Art - Goût - Beauté, Feuillets de l' élégance féminine, Novembre 1931, No. 135, 12e Année, p. 17 1931

This fashion plate, made for a French magazine in 1931, is all about line and surface. The anonymous artist renders these figures with such care and precision, as if they’re sketching an idea as it comes to them. Check out the shadows under their feet. It’s a simple trick, but notice how these lines anchor them to the picture plane. It’s these little details that reveal the hand of the artist, the labor, the process. These details are a kind of intimate record. It almost reminds me of the way Morandi would come back to the same motif day after day, year after year. I suppose what I’m saying is, this isn’t just a fashion plate, it’s a document, a study in seeing. Like Morandi’s bottles or one of my own messy canvases, it’s a testament to the power of looking closely. It shows how, when we’re willing to really see, even the most ordinary things can become extraordinary.