Head of a Man Smoking a Pipe 1991

Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille made this striking head of a man smoking a pipe with ink on paper. It looks like it came into being very quickly. I can feel Detaille's presence in the swift strokes that define the man's features, and I wonder what he was thinking as he captured this face. Maybe he was trying to communicate an emotion or a fleeting thought that he observed while people-watching in a busy cafe. I can imagine his hand moving quickly across the paper, trying to capture the ephemeral essence of his subject. Take the lines that form the smoke curling from the pipe, for instance. They seem to dance and waver, just like real smoke. This really adds movement to the piece, doesn't it? It reminds me of similar gestures in the work of Manet, whose sketches were so full of vitality. Ultimately, art is about conversation. Artists across time converse and exchange ideas, inspiring each other. This piece is an example of that continuous exchange, reminding us that painting is an embodied form of expression and is open to many interpretations.