Cigar Store Turk c. 1936

Walter Hochstrasser made this watercolor painting, Cigar Store Turk, and the way he uses color blocking and simple shading gives it a folk-art kind of vibe. It's like he's not trying to hide the process, you know? Looking at the texture, it's smooth but there's still a sense of the paper grain coming through. See how the colors are laid down next to each other, defining the folds of his turban and the drape of his robe? It reminds me of early modernist paintings, like the Fauves, who were all about using color for expression, not just representation. And there's something about the flatness of the figure that adds to its charm. It feels like a tribute to the object it represents more than a study of a figure. Maybe Hochstrasser was inspired by the graphic qualities of advertising art. Anyway, it's a cool reminder that art is always talking to other art, a conversation across time.