Olympic with Returned Soldiers 1919

Arthur Lismer painted 'Olympic with Returned Soldiers' with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is the absolute glee he takes in the stuff of paint itself. Look at how he builds up the surface, kind of rough and ready, with these buttery strokes of blues, whites, and creams. The ship itself, boldly patterned, feels like a giant toy, a playful symbol against the backdrop of war. I love the way he uses a kind of shorthand for the figures, dabs and dashes that suggest crowds without getting bogged down in detail. It's all about movement, about the collective experience rather than individual portraits. I’m reminded of Marsden Hartley, someone else who wasn’t afraid to let paint be paint, to embrace the messy, imperfect beauty of the process. Art's like a big conversation, right? Everyone riffing off each other, trying to figure things out, one brushstroke at a time.