Annette Peile 1913

George Henry painted this portrait of Annette Peile in oil on canvas. I'm imagining the feel of the brush in the artist's hand, heavy with paint, as he builds up the dark folds of fabric around her figure. What was it like for Henry to paint her, to spend hours looking at her? The light is soft, diffused, almost as if filtered through a cloud, and the tonal range is minimal. The colour is restrained, with dark blacks, greys, and creams that capture a certain mood, a certain time. Her face emerges with a strange directness, those unusual glasses staring out, obscuring her gaze. Painters always learn from each other, you know? The way the light falls across her face makes me think of Whistler, but there's something more personal here, something quietly insistent about Henry's mark making. It's a conversation across time, a back and forth of seeing and feeling. And it all comes down to paint, the messy, wonderful, transformative stuff of art.