Striped Woman 1946

Alexander Calder conjured *Striped Woman* with paint, using strong lines and shapes. It’s as if the painting emerged line by line, with Calder responding to the developing image, adjusting and refining as he went. I’m trying to picture Calder in his studio, brush in hand, figuring out how to translate his sculptural sensibilities onto a 2D surface. He makes the stripes pulsate across the canvas. The paint looks thin. It’s interesting how the flatness of the stripes contrasts with the curves defining the woman’s head. The red swirls for her eyes and cheeks really catch the eye. Red is a colour that can be arresting. I wonder if he was thinking about how colors vibrate next to each other, how they make you feel. It's not easy to make an image out of lines, but Calder does so with a playful spirit. It's a reminder that artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other across time.