Hippolyte Thom c. 1910

Alice Pike Barney made this portrait of Hippolyte Thom with pastels, probably around 1910. I imagine her picking up sticks of color, one by one, gently building up the face from the grey paper, each mark adding a little more light and form. I wonder what it was like for Barney to create this image. Was it a quick sketch, capturing a fleeting impression? Or did Hippolyte sit for hours while she carefully studied his features? I notice the way she used yellows and greens to model the face, it's like she's painting with light itself. The strokes around his mouth are so subtle, you almost miss them, but they give him such a tender expression. It's a conversation across time, you know? Barney looking at Hippolyte, and us now looking at her work. It's a reminder that painting isn't just about representing what we see, but about feeling, thinking, and connecting. It's about embracing the ambiguity and uncertainty of life and art.