Doll's Dress c. 1939

Marie Alain made this watercolour drawing of a Doll’s Dress sometime in the early to mid twentieth century. Look at the concentration of purple in the image, it really vibrates on the page. It almost feels like a textile in itself. I can imagine Marie, hunched over the paper, carefully rendering each pleat and fold, each tiny button. Did she think of herself as a kind of dressmaker too? Was this an escape from the world, like painting can be? I can see her building up the layers of watercolor, letting the colours bleed and blend. Look at the texture she creates, it’s so tactile, you want to reach out and touch it. The scalloped edges of the fabric, the delicate lace at the cuffs and collar. It reminds me a little of the work of Balthus, that feeling of childhood frozen in time, but here through dress rather than a child. Isn’t that what painting is anyway: freezing and saving a moment of beauty that would otherwise disappear? We owe that to her, Marie, and all the other artists who keep the conversation alive.