Portrait Group 1908

George Washington Lambert painted this group portrait with oil, and what strikes me is how he makes this old-fashioned scene feel so modern, so casual. I mean, look at the confident brushstrokes that build the landscape! The paint isn’t overworked, it’s loose and gestural. Even the figures emerge from these expressive marks. I particularly love how he captures the light on the woman's satin dress. It’s all about surface and texture; the play of light, the fold of fabric. Lambert seems to be speaking with artists like Manet and John Singer Sargent, who also knew how to make a painting look both effortless and glamorous at the same time. It’s this combination of polish and painterly freedom that keeps me looking. It’s a painting that knows it's a painting, and that makes all the difference.