Composition with a Vase 1918

Gustave Buchet made this painting, Composition with a Vase, with oil on canvas and it is a party of colour! Buchet approaches the vase as a form, a process, a chance to explore the language of shape. The planes of colour are laid down with an intuitive looseness, the brushstrokes thick and juicy, and slightly transparent. See how the vase is just barely there, a ghost of a vase? Notice the cobalt blue of the floral decoration—how it vibrates against the muted greens and browns. For me, that one decisive stroke is where the action is, where painting reveals itself as thinking. Buchet reminds me a bit of Leger, both exploring the tension between representation and abstraction, but Buchet is more playful in his approach. He doesn’t want to nail anything down. It’s more like a suggestion, an invitation to imagine the world anew.