Iphigenia Wise Ochs 1930

Philip Alexius de László made this portrait of Iphigenia Wise Ochs with oil on canvas. Look at the paint handling, it’s all about smooth blending, not a trace of brushwork to disrupt the surface, which gives it a kind of old-school formality. The dark background and clothing make the emerald jewelry and silvery hair pop, which is a smart move. But it’s the sheer fabric draped over her shoulders that grabs my attention. It's painted with such delicate, almost transparent washes of color. You can practically feel the light filtering through it. It reminds me of John Singer Sargent, another portraitist who knew how to make paint sing. But where Sargent is all about bravura brushstrokes, de László is more restrained, more focused on capturing a likeness. Still, there's a certain magic in the way he uses paint to capture the essence of a person. Art is always a balancing act, a conversation between different approaches and ideas.