Untitled c. 1940s

Judith Rothschild made this untitled painting with what looks like gouache, which is like an opaque watercolor, the kind kids use, but in the right hands, it’s an amazing medium. I imagine Rothschild enjoyed the flatness of gouache, and how it sits on the surface, almost like paper cut-outs, rather than being absorbed into the canvas like oils. The process must have been about placing these shapes in relation to each other, intuitively figuring out the puzzle. See that gray blob, the one that looks a bit like an upside-down pear? The confident way that the lines sit on top, defining its shape— I think that gives a clue to the artist's sensibility. This work is so related to the work of other painters, who, in their own way, are also trying to make sense of the world through shapes and colors. It makes me wonder what kind of conversations they might have had if they were all in a room together. Artists are always in dialogue, aren't they? A never-ending conversation that spans time and space, always evolving, always inspiring.