Portrait of D.M. Solsky 1908

Boris Kustodiev painted this portrait of D.M. Solsky with a mix of bravura and sensitivity, which is quite a combo, really. Look at the green of that chair, almost vibrating against the gold filigree on Solsky’s outfit! I’m imagining Kustodiev, brush in hand, trying to capture the essence of this dude – probably some important dignitary – but also wanting to make a painting that zings. I can feel him wrestling with the challenge of rendering the weight and presence of the figure, while not wanting to get bogged down in detail. And then there’s that hand! The way it’s rendered with such economy, just a few strokes of the brush, but it totally reads. That’s the kind of thing that gets me excited about painting, the power of suggestion, the ability to conjure a whole world with just a few well-placed marks. We, as artists, are always building on each other, in a constant dialogue across time, inspiring each other to keep pushing, keep exploring.