Shop Lady 1910

This is William Glackens's portrait, *Shop Lady*, and I can almost feel the painting being built up, layer by layer. It's a process of intuitive construction. I wonder what Glackens was thinking, right there in front of his canvas, wrestling with the weight of that feathery hat? How the brushstrokes must have danced as he tried to capture the essence of his sitter, this shop lady. The paint feels thick, but the overall impression is light. See how the colors seem to vibrate against each other, a sort of painterly energy that activates the whole surface. That one stroke defining the edge of the collar, for example, is so economical. It's not just white paint, but a decision about light, form, and, dare I say, the very essence of "shop lady"-ness! I can see echoes of the Impressionists, but there's a realness here, too, a sense of the everyday elevated through Glackens's touch. It reminds me that we're all just borrowing and building on each other's ideas, these conversations across time.