Fair in Novigrad Podravska 1931

Ivan Generalic made this painting, Fair in Novigrad Podravska, with watercolor, and you can see how the process leads the way. It’s all soft edges, watercolor bleeds, and this strange sense of perspective. The real star here is the texture, which is really all about the paper itself. The paint is thin, almost like a stain, so the weave comes right through. You can see the layering of washes in the sky, one grey, one blue, and the way these colors pool and mingle. I am drawn to the dark figures in the mid-ground, the way their hats form a dark band across the painting, punctuated by the lighter shapes of their faces. It reminds me a little bit of the early work of Henri Rousseau, or maybe a more naive Milton Avery, but ultimately, it is its own thing. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t need to be perfect to be powerful.