Woman's Shoe 1935 - 1942

Melita Hofmann made this drawing of a Woman's Shoe with colored pencil on paper. Look at the way she uses simple hatching to describe the form. It's a very direct and economical way of working, letting the process remain visible in the finished work. The colored pencil gives it a soft, almost faded feel, like it’s an image from memory. The texture of the paper is visible through the marks, which gives the drawing a kind of warmth, a sense of intimacy. Notice how Hofmann uses tiny dashes to show the shoelaces. They almost look like sutures, mending the shoe together. It's a quiet, almost meditative act of making, revealing something both vulnerable and resilient in the everyday. Hofmann's drawing reminds me a little bit of the work of Agnes Martin, in that they both find ways to create a very expressive language out of very simple means. It’s a good reminder that art is always an ongoing conversation, and nothing is ever really finished.