Baby's Shirt c. 1936

Sylvia Dezon made this drawing of a baby’s shirt with graphite on paper. It’s all about seeing and feeling the subtle, almost-there. The shirt shimmers into view through a few faint lines. What’s interesting is how Dezon lets the paper breathe, using just enough marks to suggest form, but leaving plenty of room for our imagination to fill in the blanks. It is as if she were handling a half-forgotten memory, a garment that is not clearly remembered, but whose shape and materiality are just about palpable. Look at those delicate lines suggesting the frills on the sleeves. They’re barely there, but they give the shirt a sense of lightness, of innocence. It reminds me of the work of Agnes Martin, in the sense of how both artists use simplicity and repetition to create something meditative and deeply personal. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to shout to be heard.