Tre studier af draperet kvinde, hvilende på højre arm. 1907

This sketch of three studies of a draped woman, resting on her right arm, was made by Othon Friesz. I can imagine the quick, assured strokes of the pen, the artist's hand moving swiftly across the page trying to capture the essence of the figure. I wonder what Friesz was thinking as he drew. Was he lost in the play of light and shadow on the drapery? Or perhaps he was contemplating the weight and volume of the body beneath the fabric? See how, with just a few lines, he suggests the curve of a breast, the bend of a knee? It's like he's not just drawing what he sees, but what he knows is there. Friesz, like other artists such as Matisse, seemed to be seeking a path between the classical tradition and the innovations of modernism. This piece, with its interest in form and movement, is part of that conversation. The history of painting is, after all, an ongoing conversation.