Rilke: The Duino Elegies 1996

Maria Bozoky made this small painting, "Rilke: The Duino Elegies," using watercolor and gouache on paper. These materials lend themselves to spontaneity, and you can see that Bozoky works swiftly, defining the bird's shape with confident strokes. The whiteness of the bird’s body is achieved by letting the paper show through, a way of working that emphasizes the material support itself. The wet-on-wet watercolor technique gives a mottled effect. This is especially evident in the background, and in the bird’s plumage where the colors bleed together. It is a fairly loose approach, far from the kind of precision associated with academic painting. Bozoky's image shares some sensibility with illustration, because it has a narrative association with Rilke's poems. But ultimately, what we remember is the freshness of her touch – a deft, personal expression made possible by these humble materials. It reminds us that art need not be about grand gestures to be meaningful.