Lucille Corcos 1934

Adolph Gottlieb painted "Lucille Corcos" in 1935, we don't know with what, but I'm guessing it was oil paint. Look at the way he's used blocks of color to build up the face and clothing. It's not about blending or smoothing things out, but about the process of layering and constructing an image. The paint is applied pretty thinly. You can see how the artist is unafraid to leave traces of his hand and the materials used in the making. I'm really drawn to the way Gottlieb handles the ruff-like trim on the sleeves, those little stripes of red and brown giving the piece an energy, a pulse. You see how these marks don’t just describe form; they create a rhythm across the surface. It reminds me a little of Milton Avery's approach to color and form. Both artists understood that painting is as much about feeling as it is about seeing, and that sometimes, the most powerful statement comes from embracing ambiguity and letting the paint speak for itself.