A Mexican Coquette 1912

This is Helen Hyde's print, "A Mexican Coquette," and it's got this lovely, dream-like quality. The palette is soft, with warm pinks, whites, and blacks. I wonder about Helen, making this print, thinking about the coquette. What was it like to try and capture that fleeting moment, that flirtatious glance? There's something so delicate in the way she rendered the woman's gesture as she reaches for the flower, the curve of her arm. And what's with those dudes peering over the wall? The black cat is a nice touch too, a familiar presence, a touch of the uncanny. Hyde’s work, especially her prints, often feature women in intimate, everyday scenes. You can see her interest in Japanese art, like that of Mary Cassatt's prints, in the flat planes of color and simplified forms. This print is not just a picture, it's a little poem, a whisper of a story.