Wedding Dress c. 1941

Max Unger made this watercolor painting called 'Wedding Dress,' but the date is unknown. What strikes me most is the artist's delicate touch and precision. It's all in these subtle gradations of color and tone, building up the form and texture of the dress. Look closely, and you'll notice how Unger uses these fine, almost invisible lines to create a sense of volume and depth in the fabric. It's like he's not just painting the dress, but also trying to capture the way light plays on its surface. The texture looks thick, and he focuses on all of the ruffles, but I wonder if it was as cumbersome in reality. There is also a beautiful tension in the painting between the detailed rendering of the dress and the flat, almost abstract background. This is an approach you also see in the work of David Hockney. Ultimately, Unger reminds us that art is as much about what we see as it is about how we see it.