Cariatide délivrée 1986

Léonor Fini conjured "Cariatide délivrée," or "Freed Caryatid," with oil paint, and who knows what else? Because it’s the not knowing that keeps me hooked. The painting is all about the feel of surfaces. The caryatid’s skin seems almost polished, like marble, while the draped fabric has a ghostly transparency. This contrast gives the painting its tension. Look at the way Fini renders the fabric – it’s barely there, a whisper of color that both reveals and conceals. What tools created these contrasting effects? Did she use tiny brushes for the figures? Or maybe rags to manipulate the paint, pushing it around, blurring the edges? This contrast gives the painting its conceptual richness. The caryatid, once a supporting column, is now freed, but still draped, still bound in some way. It reminds me a bit of Dorothea Tanning, both of whom made art that embraced ambiguity. There’s no one right way to read it, and that’s the point.