Wig Block 1935 - 1942

Mildred Bent made this brown wash drawing of a wig block. It’s all gentle shades of brown, in thin washes, with some areas of bare paper. The image is so still, so quiet, you could almost miss it. But maybe that’s the point, you know? I can see her, Bent, working on this. The way the washes pool slightly on the paper gives a sense of the time it took, the build-up, the sheer concentration and patience involved. What was she thinking about as she watched the layers dry? Did she have other paintings on the go? I wonder what else she made. That slightly wonky eye on the left—it’s not a mistake. It feels so intimate, so real. You sense Bent's hand in the marks and it makes me think about the long lineage of artists thinking and working in dialogue with each other. There’s something so beautiful and powerful about that connection. Everyone borrowing and adding to each other’s vocabulary. And still, somehow, finding their own voice in the mix.