Portrait of Jadwiga Sapieżyna née Sanguszko 1910

Olga Boznanska made this portrait of Jadwiga Sapieżyna with oil on canvas, and just look at the gorgeous mess of it all! There is that incredible painterly quality, the way she’s built up the surface with strokes of greens and yellows. I can imagine Boznanska stepping back, squinting, layering, and smearing. All that work, all that looking, to try and capture the essence of a person. It makes me think of the way paint itself can be a kind of character. It’s got a viscosity, a smell, a life of its own. The hands are particularly interesting, each brushstroke defining every wrinkle as if they were old tree bark. Look how the black clothes contrast with the gold rings, what a touch! Painters like Boznanska always remind me that we're all in this conversation together, trying to figure out how to make something new out of something old.