Tsar Dadon military 1909

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin made this costume design for Tsar Dadon probably with watercolor and pencil on paper. What’s striking to me is how free and almost unfinished it feels. Look at how the colors run into each other, suggesting rather than defining form. It’s so process-oriented, like he’s thinking through the character in real time. The textures are fascinating. The scratchy lines give a sense of the Tsar’s beard, making it look almost prickly. Then there’s the shield, rendered with these loose, radiating strokes—it feels weighty, protective. It’s like you can feel the materials, the fabric and metal, even though it's all just suggestive marks on paper. It reminds me a little of some costume designs by Picasso, where the playfulness and imagination take center stage. I love how art can embrace these kinds of ambiguous, open-ended possibilities.