Portrait of the Artist Tatiana Chizhova 1924

Boris Kustodiev painted this portrait of fellow artist Tatiana Chizhova with oils on canvas. Just imagine the act of painting itself! The dark paint of Tatiana's smock and the background's murky green, mixed and layered to create a surface that seems to absorb light. I can just picture Kustodiev, maybe squinting a little, trying to capture the way Tatiana holds herself, so assured, hands on her hips, eyes steady. Look at how the dark strokes define the folds of her dress, and how that red belt loops around her middle - almost decorative against the somber tones. There's something both classic and unconventional about the way she is painted. It reminds me a bit of some of those society portraits from the turn of the last century, but with a more modern sensibility. It's like Kustodiev is in conversation with other artists across time, grappling with similar questions of representation, expression, and maybe even challenging them a bit too. It's all part of this ongoing dialogue we painters have, inspiring each other, pushing the boundaries of what paint can do.