Judge Hand Puppet c. 1936

This is Beverly Chichester’s ‘Judge Hand Puppet’, made with gouache on paper, and I love how this image occupies a space between portraiture, craft and character design. You can see how Chichester has taken the time to render all the details of the puppet, including its costume, facial features, and even the way its hair is styled. The way the black paint of the robe has been applied thinly, with the texture of the paper visible beneath, is so interesting. It feels very honest, like we’re seeing the object, not just a representation. Then there’s the head, its squareness and frontality, a strange flesh tone with almost cartoonish features, its kind of creepy and very compelling. The second head floating above the puppet provides the same information from a different angle, a drawing trick to show both sides of a 3D object. The flattened perspective reminds me of a lot of folk art, where capturing the essence of the subject is more important than strict realism. It speaks to how art is a conversation across time, different approaches and ideas constantly influencing each other.