Spring 1905

Frances Macdonald painted Spring sometime in the late 19th century with watercolor and gouache. It's so decorative, a formal and flowing arrangement of color, line and pattern. I can imagine Macdonald in her Glasgow studio, leaning over this work, thinking about symmetry and mirror images. Look how the palette sings with violet, sage and gold; it must have been such a pleasure to apply these colors. The way she’s used the paint—thin and watery—gives it a light, airy quality, perfectly in tune with the theme of spring. She must have been looking at Beardsley, maybe Burne-Jones, too. I wonder if she thought of herself as part of a continuum, an ongoing exchange of ideas. It's a beautiful reminder that artists don't work in a vacuum. Each one of us stands on the shoulders of giants and adds our own little bit to the conversation.