Wax Doll c. 1937

Edna Rex’s ‘Wax Doll’ appears to be an intimate, intuitive watercolour of a cherished object, made on paper at an unknown date. The muted palette and the doll’s slightly melancholic expression give the work a wistful, dreamlike quality. Look at how Rex handles the fabric of the dress – the sheer variety of blues and purples suggesting depth and movement. The doll's face, with its simple, almost childlike features, is rendered in warm browns and yellows. This contrast between the doll's rigid features and the fluid, flowing lines of the dress adds an emotional complexity. The way Rex captures light is also very subtle. See how she uses thin washes of colour to create shadows and highlights, lending the doll a sense of volume. This focus on light and colour reminds me of the early work of Fairfield Porter, who also had a knack for finding beauty in the everyday. Like Porter, Rex seems less interested in technical perfection, and more in capturing the essence of her subject, which is the feeling of seeing and representing an object.