Dress c. 1938

Bessie Forman made this dress, using paint on paper, at an unknown date. It is really all about softness. The dress is there for us, but it is so understated. I love how the artist has given volume to the dress through very delicate lines and a minimal color palette. It is almost like a ghost image, barely there, like a memory. I'm drawn to the bottom edge of the dress where it flares out slightly with these curving motifs. They seem so tentative and precious. This reminds me of some of Agnes Martin’s drawings, but with the intimacy of personal experience. There’s a quietness here, a resistance to the grand gesture, that I find really compelling. It is a reminder that not everything needs to shout to be heard.