Garden Ornament (Greyhound) c. 1939

George Constantine made this painting of a greyhound garden ornament sometime between 1855 and 1995. The painting looks like a photo or, at least, it tries to. But I wonder what it was like to be Constantine, making pictures of objects that already exist? I imagine he thought about their shapes, their volume, the way they sit in space. Was he trying to honor the way light reveals the object? Or maybe thinking about the way our bodies relate to the form of this animal? The monochrome tones are cool, and the object sits on a green plinth. The greyhound has this sleek pose, a kind of stoic relaxation. I bet Constantine was really looking, I mean *really* looking, to create this illusion. It makes me think of other artists who have been in dialogue with each other through the ages. Each searching for different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing their world.