Female Nude Reclining on Blue Ground 1940

William H. Johnson created this painting of a reclining nude using simple and direct brushstrokes with a palette of brown, blue, yellow, and black. I imagine Johnson's process involved a back-and-forth, adding layers, wiping them away, and then re-emerging, as if he were building up the form through touch. Look at how the blue flattens into a plane, while the body is a series of curves and connected shapes. I love how Johnson uses the black outline to define the contours of the figure, but also how that line refuses to be just one thing. The way it thickens, thins, and sometimes disappears gives the figure a sense of weight and volume but also a playful abstract quality. The black becomes a shape in itself! Johnson’s flattened forms and bold colors remind me of other artists like Marsden Hartley and Milton Avery, who were also looking at American folk art for inspiration. Painting is a way of seeing, feeling, and thinking. It is not just about the image, but about the whole process.