Dance c. early 20th century

James M. Louis made this dance scene with gouache and graphite on paper. Look at that line of dancers! I imagine the artist finding the figures through mark making, a bit like automatic writing, searching for the choreography in his mind’s eye and then setting it down, like breadcrumbs for us to follow. I wonder if the artist was thinking about form as much as feeling? I mean, look at how the paper is almost buffed in the ground, a field for the dancers to play in, and then there’s that garland of leaves and flowers strung between them, linking their performance. I can almost feel the light touch of the brush, the artist’s patient layering of color and pattern to build up the costumes. The way the dancers are arranged, all in a line, reminds me a bit of cave paintings, maybe that was on the artist's mind too. I see the influence of folk art and outsider art, all that directness and emotional punch. It reminds us that artists are always having a conversation with each other, across time, inspiring one another to see the world in new ways.