Japanese Doll 1908

Boris Kustodiev's 'Japanese Doll' is a moment suspended in time, rendered with visible brushstrokes. It’s like he’s built up the image slowly, with layers of feeling. I can imagine Kustodiev standing before the canvas, trying to capture the light filtering through that window. He must have been thinking about how to convey this intimate moment, with the little girl and her doll locked in their own little world. Look at the log cabin, its structure is like a frame within a frame! The texture is built up, stroke by stroke, giving the scene a real weight. The way he renders the girl’s white dress is so sensitive. You can almost feel the crispness of the fabric. That contrast between her dress and the bright colors of the doll is what creates a sense of intimacy. Artists, we are all magpies, picking up shiny bits from each other's work across time. It reminds me of Vuillard in its intimate domesticity! And that painting is just one point in an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing, of feeling, translated onto canvas.