House on the Point 1928

George Luks made this watercolor, "House on the Point," at some unknown date, and it feels like he was really letting the medium do its thing. The washes flow and blend, creating a sense of immediacy, as if the whole scene materialized in one breath. What I find interesting is the texture. The way the pigment settles into the paper, creating these granular effects, feels almost accidental, but so right. Look at the sky and the building for example, the way the colors bleed into each other, the sharp lines contrasting with the haziness of the water. The blue and green feel somber, but then there are these moments of light – the bright white of the waves, that soft yellow sky – that lift the whole thing up. It reminds me a bit of Marsden Hartley's landscapes, especially in the way he used color to evoke a mood. There's a freedom here, an openness to the unexpected, that feels very contemporary.