In der Petite Chaumière, Monmartre (In the Little Cottage, Montmartre) 1924

George Grosz made this watercolor and ink drawing, "In the Little Cottage, Montmartre," and right away, I see the beauty in its off-kilter take on process. The lines are loose, the washes of color are uneven, and it’s this raw, immediate feel that really grabs me. There’s something so telling in the way Grosz uses thin, washy paint here. It's like he's barely touching the surface, letting the figures emerge like ghosts. The color is so translucent, with visible pencil lines, creating a sense of incompleteness. The floor is defined with these quick strokes of brown, and that's a place where the drawing has a very tactile quality. There's a real sense of the artist's hand, and it feels like the artist is thinking out loud. The work reminds me a little of some of Philip Guston’s later, more cartoonish paintings, though Guston is coming from a very different place. Ultimately, art is a conversation, and Grosz is speaking in a voice that's both cynical and deeply human.