Invitation for Pierre Matisse Gallery Exhibition 1968

This drawing by Marc Chagall, an invitation for a Pierre Matisse Gallery exhibition, features loose, energetic lines in blue and black. I can almost see him sketching, reaching across the paper with that crayon, getting the body down, and then those curly-whirly scribbles for the hair. I’m sympathizing with Chagall here. It’s a commission. It needs to be done fast. The whole scene feels like it's about to take flight! He's floating, or maybe swimming, above the palette and brushes, which are really just a few bold strokes. I wonder if he’s thinking of Matisse, both of them playing with line in their work, but in such different ways. Painters are always looking at each other, riffing off one another, starting conversations across decades and continents. Each mark they make is a continuation of this dialogue. Painting is never really finished, is it? The conversation is never really over.