The Coward, Cosmopolitan illustration 1952

Edwin Georgi made this illustration called 'The Coward' for Cosmopolitan magazine, and right away I am struck by the contrast, the push-pull between dream and reality, love and war. I'm imagining the artist's hand moving across the surface, layering luminous yellows and oranges to create this ethereal vision of beauty, then contrasting it with the gritty, dark strokes depicting the harsh realities of war. What was he thinking, I wonder, as he juxtaposed these two worlds? Was it a comment on the soldier’s longing for home, or maybe the artist's own struggle to reconcile beauty and horror? The woman seems to float in a halo of light, like a goddess or a fevered dream. It reminds me of some Pre-Raphaelite paintings, where the women are idealized and otherworldly. Artists are always having this ongoing conversation with each other, riffing off each other's ideas, even across centuries! The whole thing is an invitation to reflect on the human condition, our capacity for both love and violence. Ultimately, painting is like that – a space for ambiguity, for feeling our way through the messiness of life.