A Cheyenne Woman in the Robes of a Secret Society 1974

Leonard Baskin created this image of "A Cheyenne Woman in the Robes of a Secret Society" sometime in the middle of the twentieth century. The palette is muted, warm, and earthy, like the dry desert, and the drawing is built up with delicate cross-hatching. I can almost feel the powdery chalk or pastel under my fingers. I wonder what it was like for Baskin to make this? He seems to want to honor her, but there is also a distance, as she appears veiled. What might she be thinking? Is she in hiding, or is this a sacred moment? The robes become a landscape of their own, with peaks and valleys that conceal and reveal. There is a palpable tension between what is hidden and what is shown. The way the lines wiggle, reminds me of Cy Twombly and his scrawling lines. Ultimately, art is a conversation that lasts through the ages, and each artist responds to the gestures and ideas of artists that have come before them.