Jug c. 1936

Yolande Delasser’s "Jug" is an exercise in seeing, rendered in ink on paper. The jug itself is just an outline, an echo of a form. Then, this explosion of floral shapes in intense blues dances across the page. I love the materiality here: you can almost feel the paper and the way the ink bleeds into it. Look at how the brushstrokes vary, thick in some places, almost dry in others. The artist isn’t trying to hide the process, but rather, making it visible and tangible. Take the whimsical curves and flicks; they seem spontaneous. Are they leaves, petals, or something else entirely? This reminds me a little of Forrest Bess's drawings; not in style, but in that sense of searching for a personal iconography. Ultimately, Delasser’s drawing invites us to embrace ambiguity and find joy in the fluidity of interpretation.