Etude 1958

Petros Malayan made this painting, Etude, with paint on perhaps cardboard - it has a lovely rough texture. You can feel the artist at work here; it’s all about the process. I find myself drawn to the woman's skirt, how the colours blend into one another in such a bold way. The strokes are so economical, capturing light and shadow, volume, and form. See the little strokes of black in the skirt, and how they bring a little bit of a graphic element. It almost feels like the whole painting is made up of notes, a record of seeing that's both deliberate and improvisational. Malayan reminds me a little of Milton Avery in his distillation of form to flat shapes and blocks of colour. In both cases, there’s an emphasis on colour relationships over descriptive accuracy. And like all great paintings, it’s more of a beginning than an end, always inviting new perspectives.