Bulto, Crucifix c. 1937

Majel G. Claflin painted this crucifix in watercolor, and what strikes me is how she's making a painting of a sculpture. The sculpture itself is trying to be real, but she renders it back into a painting, a representation of something. The result is not quite real, or believable, and I like that a lot. I like how the paint is so flat and matte, it almost feels like a print. And the colors are so limited, like a study of form more than a statement. The rendering of the blood is pretty interesting, like little rectangular shapes, a little like stylized tears. It's like she's trying to find a way to show the suffering, but also keep it at a distance, in the realm of the symbolic. This feels related to the work of someone like Marsden Hartley, who painted religious iconography in a very personal, abstracted way. Ultimately, this piece feels like a meditation on faith, art, and the space in between. It's not trying to give you answers, but to open up questions.