Dress c. 1940

This watercolor of a dress was painted by Roberta Spicer, though we don’t know exactly when. It’s very light, very delicate, with a real sense of airiness to it. You can tell Spicer enjoyed the process of building up the image, bit by bit, with lots of tiny marks. The surface of the paper is visible in many places, allowing the dress to float. The paint is thin and transparent, capturing the way light might pass through the fabric. Look closely and you will see the whole dress is covered in tiny floral details. They are not identical, but slightly different. Some marks are red, some blue, some green, so they appear to flicker and move. This reminds me of the work of Philip Guston, especially the way that the individual marks combine to create something much bigger than themselves. Spicer’s dress remains open to different interpretations. It is not trying to convince you of one specific thing.