St. John Nepomucene-Painted on Buffalo Hide Prior to 1800 1935 - 1942

This image of St. John Nepomucene was painted on buffalo hide some time prior to 1800, though we don't know exactly when, or by whom. The painting exists in this kind of funny zone; it’s on buffalo hide, so it’s got this immediate physical presence, but the brushstrokes are delicate, almost tentative. The artist made the whole thing using thin washes of paint. Look at the folds of the saint’s cloak, you can see how the colour pools and bleeds into the hide creating these soft, muted tones. Then there is the border. It is a gentle, orange halo, and it’s made of these repetitive looping marks that kind of dance around the edge of the image. The simplicity of the form contrasts with the intricate rendering of the saint's robe. It’s really this tension between the crude and the refined that gives the image its power. The painting reminds me a little of work by Forrest Bess, another artist interested in visionary experience, and who used simple forms and crude techniques to channel some really profound ideas.