Suit Pattern c. 1938

Here is Henry De Wolfe's "Suit Pattern," made with pencil on paper. I love the idea of the suit pattern as a kind of ghostly drawing, a hidden structure that gives form to the body. There's something so tender and vulnerable about it, like an architectural plan for a hug. You can see the hand of the artist so clearly in these marks. I wonder what De Wolfe was thinking as he rendered these shapes? Maybe he was imagining the person who would wear this suit, the life it would inhabit, the stories it would tell. There’s a real conversation happening here, a connection between the mind, the hand, and the body. I think of other artists who work with pattern and structure. It makes me think about what it means to clothe ourselves, to create these protective shells around our fragile selves.