Group of children 1931

Tadeusz Makowski made this painting, Group of Children, with oil on canvas. The kids are lined up like they're posing for a class photo, or maybe it’s a lineup of suspects. Is that a landscape in the background or a wall? Makowski’s palette seems to be based on a limited range of browns, creams, off-whites, and greys. He also includes some jarring notes of cadmium red, cobalt blue, and Naples yellow, which really makes the picture glow. Looking closely at the texture of the paint, I can see that the artist really loaded his brush. The paint handling is chunky, especially in the background. He uses a dark wash of black and grey, which is dabbed, speckled, and scrubbed into the weave of the canvas, giving it the appearance of an atmospheric fog. It’s a great way of building up the image in layers. I think of Chaim Soutine and the way he applies paint with freedom and expression, but also, there’s something about the oddness and awkwardness of the figures that makes me think of Guston, too. Ultimately, it’s a painting that raises lots of questions, which is a good thing!