Wedding Dress 1937

This is Mary E. Humes' 'Wedding Dress', rendered in pencil on paper. Look at how she’s captured the fabric’s texture with simple lines, almost like she’s sketching a memory. There's another view of the dress in the upper right corner, as if you needed to know the back view as well as the front. The dress's ruffles and soft, shaded skirt, give the garment a sense of depth. Humes captures the essence of a wedding dress, a symbol of hope and new beginnings. It reminds me of the kind of care that goes into making something by hand, a kind of folk art. The dress takes on a life of its own, capturing the dreamlike quality of a wedding. It’s got a naive quality but it's also got something really elegant about it. This piece, with its delicate lines and focus on detail, reminds me of the work of textile artists like Faith Ringgold, who use fabric and thread to tell stories. It's like Humes is part of this ongoing conversation about how we can use art to capture these elusive moments of love and commitment.