Young Woman Powdering her Face 1922

Maurice Asselin created this oil painting, 'Young Woman Powdering her Face,' and honestly, I get a kick out of imagining him making it. Asselin is building form with tonal contrasts of black and white paint, like he's carving space out of light. You can see the brushstrokes, how he applied them with purpose, almost as if he was trying to catch the light. The hat, the shoulder, the fingers; dabs of paint and then a rub, a smear, a correction… I bet Asselin probably wrestled with this one, layering and scraping away until the woman emerged from the canvas, and, in the end, you get this super intimate moment, right? And it's all thanks to the way he handled the paint. Artists are always in conversation, you know, trading notes across time, and it’s a constant source of inspiration to see how a painter like Asselin finds something new to say with such an old and beautiful medium.