Stående Model 1932

Vilhelm Lundstrom made this standing nude, 'Stående Model', with oil paint, and what strikes me is how he seems to be carving with color. The limited palette is mostly tonal, yet the application of those tones, those brushstrokes, gives the figure real volume. It's like he's sculpting light, isn't it? Check out the planes on her face, for example. Each one is a decision, a mark that defines the form, and together they build a presence that's both solid and ethereal. There's a particular shadow that falls across the upper back, a soft, blurred edge that suggests depth and roundness, that I keep coming back to. The whole painting feels rooted in a process of observation and response, a kind of slow looking that reminds me of Cezanne, as if Lundstrom wasn't just painting a body, but thinking through painting itself. This is how artists speak to each other, in the language of material and form.