Wooden Indian c. 1936

Elmer G. Anderson made this drawing of a wooden Indian, we don't know when, using what looks like colored pencil and ink. I love the directness of it. The light tan colour of the ground really sets off the ochres, browns, and greens he's used to describe the figure. It's all in the details here. Look at how Anderson describes the tassles hanging from the figure’s skirt, the way he captures the play of light across the folds of the shawl, or the way the green fabric drapes down from his left hand. The colours here are earthy and warm. You can almost feel the texture of the wood. The drawing is 1/6 of the full size, which makes you think about the original object, and what it must have been like. It reminds me a bit of Milton Avery's simplified forms and earthy palette, that same kind of quiet observation. It's like Anderson is having a conversation with a tradition, but also doing his own thing, in his own time, using what he has to hand. Art isn't about answers; it's about keeping the questions alive.