Boy from Ardeal 1917

George Demetrescu Mirea painted ‘Boy from Ardeal’ with oils, sometime around 1917, and the brown palette makes it feel like a faded photograph. Mirea seems to be feeling his way into form, figuring out the volume and light as he goes, and I think that open-ended searching is where the magic happens. The paint is neither here nor there – it’s not thick, but it’s not so thin that you forget it’s there either. It sits right on the surface; you can see every little brushstroke that builds up the face and hair of the boy. I particularly like the way he painted the white collar of the boy’s shirt – the way he dragged the brush across the canvas, letting the texture of the linen show through in places. That little red bow is like a tiny full stop. This reminds me of late Manet – the dark backgrounds, the loose brushwork. The painting feels like a conversation, like Mirea is talking to other artists across time, and I’m so happy to be eavesdropping.