Wedding Dress c. 1937

Mary E. Humes made this Wedding Dress design with pencil and watercolour. It's interesting to me that she used these very modest materials to depict something so grand and symbolic. The dress is sketched with delicate lines, capturing the soft folds and gentle curves of the fabric. The watercolour washes give it a dreamlike quality. See how the lines around the waist are more dense, like the memory of a corset! You can almost feel the way this dress would have moved, the way it would have felt against the skin. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's quiet, meditative drawings, where simplicity becomes a vehicle for deep emotion. Both artists share an understanding that art doesn’t always need to shout to be heard. Sometimes, the softest whisper can carry the most weight.