Sealskin Cap c. 1940

Dana Bartlett made this Sealskin Cap using watercolor and graphite on paper. You can almost feel the softness of the fur, and the suppleness of the brown shades, don't you think? It is interesting to imagine Bartlett there, in the studio, moving the brush across the paper, trying to capture the way the light falls on the cap. I wonder what Bartlett was thinking? Maybe the cap was a cherished object, something that spoke of a time or place that they loved. Or maybe it was just a fascinating shape and texture that sparked the desire to paint. The painting’s small size and the delicacy of the rendering remind me of Fairfield Porter's or Alex Katz's paintings. All of them share this sense of just looking at the world, patiently, and trying to get it down in paint, as real and alive as possible. It shows how artists are always in conversation, building on each other's work. There is no right or wrong way, just different ways of seeing.