Silent Listener 1943

Oscar Dominguez’s Silent Listener is a complex painting in a cubist style using oil paint to depict a geometric rendering of a female nude alongside a phonograph. The artist, like other cubists, is interested in the way painting can capture multiple perspectives. It's like he’s asking, what do paintings offer us that a photo doesn't? I’m fascinated by the question of what the artist was thinking when they made it. The woman’s head is fractured into planes and angles, which feels representative of the fracturing of the self that many of us feel. The painting uses thick paint, the texture gives the whole piece a tactile quality. It’s so physical! The artist is clearly taking note of the great Cubists like Picasso and Braque but doing his own thing. They were all in conversation together, cross-fertilizing each other's work. So many interpretations are possible here, because painting embraces ambiguity.