Jacqueline Onassis 5 - 1968

It’s a simple image of Jaqueline Onassis with black and blue marks made with paint. It’s hard to say when, where, and by whom this collage was made, but I can see them in the studio, alone, cutting and sticking. The surface has been wiped with thin washes of creamy white and pale blue. A big wedge of dark paint on the left. They must have been thinking about her hair, because there’s a big blue capital K near her face with a few arrows indicating the direction of her gaze. It reminds me a little of Warhol's celebrity portraits, but also the work of artists like Cy Twombly. As an artist, I'm always struck by that moment of deciding when a work is finished. It’s a tricky thing, and it feels like this artist has managed to grasp that moment, when a work is suggestive rather than complete. It's a quiet, small, and intimate piece.