Little Girl in White 1907

George Bellows painted this piece, Little Girl in White, sometime in the early 20th century, using oil on canvas, I imagine. It's a study in light and dark. Bellows laid down some simple brushstrokes to give us this girl in her white dress. The paint looks buttery, thick in some places, especially where the white of the dress catches the light. There’s a real focus on how the dress folds and drapes, lots of visible brushwork. I’m drawn to the way the white isn’t just white, but a whole range of off-whites, greys, and creams. It reminds me of the way Manet would tackle white, finding all those subtle shifts in tone. This all relates to a longer conversation around painting as a process, where artists are constantly looking back, responding, and pushing forward. Nothing is ever really finished, right?