Niña Leyendo 1928

María Blanchard made this painting of a girl reading with brushes and oil paint, probably in her studio. The painting is like a little world, you know? It’s mostly deep browns and reds, pretty somber, but then there's this concentrated light on the girl’s face and the pages of the book. Look at the impasto! The paint is thick, especially where the light hits. I'm trying to imagine Blanchard making the work and how she might have layered those strokes, building up the form, digging in, scraping back. Her hand supporting her head speaks volumes – it’s like she’s really in there with her subject, feeling the weight of the book, the concentration, the slight exhaustion. It’s a tender moment, caught in paint. You can feel Blanchard’s own focus and care in rendering this scene, almost as if she's drawing herself. These kinds of paintings are always acts of looking.