Shoe c. 1936

Hedwig Emanuel made this 'Shoe' with watercolour on paper. You can see the thin washes of gray ink and the tentative, preliminary lines for the pair of shoes floating above the one grounded on the lower right. The painting must have come into being slowly, cautiously, with an eye towards the way surfaces reflect light. I wonder if she liked the way the lines felt against the paper? I wonder if this was a work for commercial purposes or if it was an aesthetic exercise. Or both? Emanuel probably knew the fashion of the time, and what the ideal shoe was like. But she also seems to be enjoying the process of drawing, of letting the lines emerge. As the surface of the shoe reflects the light, so the artist is reflected back into the work. We all pick up where another leaves off.