Village at the Water's Edge 1910

This is Roger de La Fresnaye's 'Village at the Water's Edge' and it's painted with oil on board. Looking at the palette, it's all muted tones, creams, ochres, greys, but what I love is how he builds up the forms with these distinct, blocky strokes. It's like he's not trying to hide the process at all. The surface has this beautiful, almost chalky texture. You can see the direction of each brushstroke, how he's layered the paint, sometimes thick, sometimes thin. It's like he's constructing the scene, block by block. There is a passage, near the bottom of the picture plane, where these dark, almost black, strokes are laid horizontally across the board. They really anchor the composition and provide a depth and counterpoint to the lighter tones above. It reminds me a little of some of Morandi's landscapes. Both artists, though separated by movement and geography, were interested in paring down representation to its most essential and ambiguous form. In the end, this isn't so much about a place but a meditation on seeing.