Dress c. 1938

Mary E. Humes’s "Dress" is a watercolor and graphite rendering of a design from the Federal Art Project, a small window into the fashion of her time. I think about Mary, bent over her desk, her brow furrowed as she works. Did she choose the regal purple of the skirt? Or was she assigned it? Maybe it was what was available, a constraint, or perhaps a spark of inspiration! I’m fascinated by the way the flat, almost velvety color of the skirt is interrupted by the looping, black trim at the hem. The mind meanders, you know? And what about the white blouse and bolero? Was Mary thinking about the woman who would wear this dress? What was her life like? I think about painters like Hilma af Klint, women whose domestic lives and creative practices were so intertwined. Each brushstroke, a question; each color, a possibility. I guess that’s painting, right? A never-ending conversation across time.