Sleeping Woman 1938

Will Barnet made this drawing, ‘Sleeping Woman’ with what looks like India ink or maybe diluted gouache—something that could be pushed around quickly. Look how he's coaxing out the form of the body with these broad strokes and decisive lines. I can almost feel him there, hovering above the paper, trying to capture that quiet, heavy stillness of sleep. Did he start with the pillow? I wonder what it's like to draw someone sleeping… do you feel like you’re stealing something? There’s this great gestural slash of shadow under her chin, and it’s amazing how one mark can do so much work, not just describing the form, but also adding a sense of depth and mood. You see echoes of this kind of reductive sensibility in Milton Avery, who was a bit older than Barnet, but these guys were looking at each other's work, for sure. I guess that’s what artists do, we are always dreaming the same dreams and talking to each other across time.