An Eccentric Dance. Sketch for the Ballet Miniature of the Choreographer K. Goleizovsky 1922

Anatol Petrytsky made this tempera on paper design for ‘An Eccentric Dance’, a ballet sketch for choreographer K. Goleizovsky. I love the confident way Petrytsky simplifies the dancers’ forms into geometric shapes, yet retains their expressive qualities. It's all about the tilt of a line, the placement of a shape, and how they play off each other. You can almost feel the dancers moving, twisting in space. There’s something so modern and playful in the way he captures the dynamism of dance with such economy. I imagine Petrytsky experimenting with different arrangements, pushing and pulling the shapes until they felt just right. This resonates with other avant-garde artists at the time, each exploring the possibilities of abstraction to capture movement, emotion, and the essence of human experience. It's a reminder that painting isn't just about representation, it's about feeling, thinking, and inventing new ways of seeing.