Dress (Pattern) c. 1936

Nancy Crimi made this dress pattern sometime before she died in 1995, using graphite on paper. You can see the hand of the artist, feel her way of working by looking at the lines she made and how they interact with each other on the page. It’s the kind of artmaking that’s all about process. There is a real beauty to the texture in this piece. Look closely and you can see how the weight of the graphite varies across the surface, sometimes barely visible, other times solid and sure, but it’s that variety that brings it to life. Notice the area labelled ‘D12’ and ‘D13’, the lines are more broken and sketchy than other parts of the drawing, it gives the impression of something dissolving. How does that mark making relate to the rest of the piece? This reminds me a little of the diagrammatic works of someone like Paul Klee. He also saw art as a way to describe and explain the world around him, embracing ambiguity and provisionality in the process.