Portrait of photographer M.A. Sherling 1918

Jury Annenkov painted this portrait of M.A. Sherling, probably in oils, and I can just imagine the brush dancing across the canvas, building up this fractured image one angular patch at a time. I can see him there in his studio, turning his subject into a Cubist puzzle. Did Sherling sit for hours, or did Annenkov work from photographs? Either way, it must have been quite something to be on the receiving end of that gaze, as Annenkov transformed his subject's likeness. Look how the colors shift and shimmer! I wonder if Annenkov was thinking about Picasso or Braque as he worked? Maybe he just wanted to see if he could capture the essence of Sherling. It's a bold move, and one that invites us to see the world in a new way, broken apart and reassembled, just like a Cubist painting. And here we are, still looking and thinking, years later. It's like they knew we'd be here, joining the conversation.