Cubist Portrait 1923

Vytautas Kairiukstis made this Cubist Portrait, using oil on canvas. It’s a funny thing, painting a portrait. How do you capture a person? Kairiukstis is breaking the face into geometric parts, a puzzle of planes and colors, trying to get at something more essential than just appearances. He is part of a painting conversation with Braque and Picasso. I wonder what it was like for Kairiukstis to be in his studio, puzzling over these shapes, trying to make them add up to a person. The gentle pinks and blues soften the hard edges of the composition. That swooping white line on the left—is that a rogue brushstroke, a moment of playful release, or something else entirely? I love the physical presence of oil paint, the way it sits on the canvas, each stroke a record of a decision, a feeling. The beauty of painting is that it's never really finished, but is always a starting point for new conversations.