After Image of Brittany 1940

Benjamin Frazier Cunningham created "After Image of Brittany" using a monochrome palette with fine hatching techniques. I’m thinking about the kind of time and consideration that goes into this sort of patient work. What must it have been like to sit with the image of a woman, breaking her form down into geometric shapes and then painstakingly shading each plane? It's almost meditative, right? The artist is making decisions on value and tone, but also on edges and line weight, balancing the tension between abstraction and figuration. Look at how Cunningham renders the surface of the sea with tight, horizontal lines, or the soft graduation of tone that suggests the roundness of her breasts. This is more than just depiction; it’s about touch, about intimacy. The surface vibrates with a strange stillness, a testament to the enduring allure of the figure within the picture. Cunningham seems to be nodding towards something beyond what’s immediately visible. It is a subtle, quietly compelling piece of work.