Seisova alaston malli, luonnos 1902 - 1909

Magnus Enckell made this standing nude sketch with washes of watercolor. You can almost feel the artist circling around the model, trying to capture her. I wonder if Enckell was thinking about bodies and how to represent them, maybe influenced by the Symbolist movement. The way the wash soaks into the paper reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s blurred figures, or even Marlene Dumas’s ghostly portraits, a wash of color becomes a person. Look at the dark area behind the model. The way Enckell let the brown watercolor drip down the paper. It almost feels like he’s letting us in on a secret, the happy accidents and the unexpected turns that can happen when you're painting. Artists learn from looking and making and in turn help us see the world anew. They are in conversation with each other across time, inspiring one another to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty in the act of expression.