Two Nude Female Figures (Seated and Bending) 1923

Olexandr Archipenko made this painting of two nude figures, probably in the first half of the 20th century. The process is really evident here in the layering of tones and the way that the forms are built up. I love the surface quality of this work. It's like a low-relief sculpture, but on a flat plane. The paint isn't trying to trick you, it is laid on so smoothly and evenly, with the color doing all the work. The palette is also very limited, and the figures are rendered in a fleshy pink hue, while the background is composed of blues and browns, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. But the black outline is really doing the work here! It flattens it out again, so it's both present and absent at the same time. You know who this reminds me of? Fernand Leger! I'd love to see these two have a conversation about the figure in space, but art history is always a conversation anyway, right?