The Kreutzer Sonata (Violinist II) 1914

Joseph DeCamp painted "The Kreutzer Sonata (Violinist II)" with oil on canvas, and what strikes me first is the dance between control and looseness in his brushwork. Look at the violinist's dress; it's a flurry of strokes, a symphony of whites and creams that somehow coalesce into fabric. The background has that same quality, where the paint seems to hover between representation and abstraction. I love how DeCamp lets the paint breathe, allowing it to be itself even as it creates an image. The handling of the violin itself is so interesting - the way it has been rendered with careful attention to detail. It's almost like he's contrasting the precision of the instrument with the fluidity of the dress and the background. There's a push and pull between clarity and ambiguity that keeps your eye moving, searching for resolution, but never quite finding it. DeCamp reminds me a little bit of Manet, in that he is equally interested in painting as process and painting as image.