Embrace 1936

Cyprián Majerník’s ‘Embrace’ uses thin, watery paint in washed-out blues, browns, and whites, and it feels like the painting emerged in fits and starts, a struggle for the artist to resolve a moment of crisis. I feel for Majerník, I really do. It’s like he’s wrestling with something here. This painting is full of fear and uncertainty, like he is trying to work something through. And that embrace --is it menacing, loving, or both? Look at the way he lays down the washes of white to create the dress –– you can see how the brushstrokes drag and pull, building up a sense of texture and volume. You sense his hand in it, pushing and pulling. Painters have been trying to capture these fleeting moments of human interaction for centuries, riffing off one another's ideas and techniques. Each new painting becomes a response to what came before. Painting is a conversation across time, and there are no easy answers, only more questions and more paintings.