Princesse Nirgidma de Torhout 1931

Alexandre Jacovleff made this portrait of Princesse Nirgidma de Torhout using pencil and pastel, giving it a soft, almost dreamlike quality. You can really see the hand of the artist at work, how the colours are built up layer by layer. It's clear artmaking is a process of discovery. Look closely, and you'll notice the textures he creates. The blue of her robe is achieved with these broad, almost scumbled strokes, but then, beside it, you have the delicate, linear work in the face, achieved with coloured pencil. It is almost as if the artist is experimenting with different modes of representation within the same image, the way you might sketch an idea, and then quickly develop it. Jacovleff reminds me a bit of someone like Matisse, in the way he plays with color and pattern to create a feeling of opulence and depth, but here we are confronted with the kind of cultural exchange that was so prevalent in the early 20th Century. We are left with questions, not answers, which, for me, is always the most interesting part of art.