Muž s holí 1927

Josef Capek made "Man with a Stick" with oil on canvas, using a muted palette of grays and browns, structuring the figure as a series of simplified forms. I really feel for Capek making this, given what he went through in his life. I can imagine him thinking deeply about form and structure, and how to convey a figure with so little. The paint is applied in smooth layers, but you can see the build-up of pigment on the body, creating subtle variations in tone. The figure becomes a study in the way light and shadow interact on the canvas. Look at the sharp lines defining the planes of the face and body; each precise stroke conveys an idea of the subject. Capek was part of a generation of artists grappling with the anxieties of modernity and the figure here is almost machine-like or robotic, a formal experiment, but somehow imbued with a deeply human feeling. It's like he's asking, what does it mean to be human in an increasingly mechanized world? I think this is what painters do, we don't just make art, but we have these conversations and exchange ideas across time, inspiring each other’s creativity.