Pauline Morton Sabin 1926

Philip Alexius de László painted this portrait of Pauline Morton Sabin with visible brushstrokes and a muted palette of browns, creams, and pinks. I imagine de László standing before his easel, building up the image of Sabin through layers of paint. What was he thinking about as he captured her likeness? The soft transitions from light to shadow give her form a gentle, almost luminous quality. The fur wrap, rendered in warm tones, adds to the feeling of opulence. The way he painted her hand—lightly resting near her chest—strikes me as particularly interesting. There's a sensitivity in the rendering, a kind of reverence. I wonder how de László saw her and what he wanted to say about her through this portrait. How might he and other portraitists be in dialogue, responding to and playing off of each other’s approaches to capturing character and presence? Painting is like that: one big conversation across time. There’s always more to discover.