Dora Maar, revisited

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I want to talk about Jeanette’s painting.

To begin, I’ll say the following: I’ve never seen any painting quite like it.

It is a representation of Dora Maar. But it contains pictures within pictures. Dora Maar’s face is littered with lines running through it. I have sat for hours looking at the patterns. Sometimes I feel as if I can put it all together; and then I can’t.

Jeanette's Dora is fractured. Her head tilts forward in resignation. It is the face of a woman who may have been fierce at one point but who now mostly just copes.

The reds in the painting pop out immediately. But they lead immediately to the blues and the tans, which oddly enough both recess into the background and extend forward beyond the reds. They recess because of their lightness compared to the reds and extend because of the shape of the face.

The total effect is really quite striking. And like all excellent paintings, it has a tangible presence in person that a picture of it cannot capture.

I wish I could be more articulate in describing Jeanette’s painting. But ultimately I can only keep staring at it.

I suppose that is one of the glorious aspects of art.

At times, one can only gape at it, speechless.

Thank you, Jeanette, for trading your painting.

I love it.