Corneille 1951

Tsuguharu Foujita made this painting, Corneille, with watercolor. The way Foujita has used the medium is delicate and very skilled. The colours are muted, almost as if he is thinking about it like a black and white photo that’s been gently tinted. I can imagine him carefully layering the pigment to build up a complex network of transparent and opaque forms. What I see is a street scene, maybe in Paris, that is rendered with so much love. It makes me wonder about the quiet dedication of the painter as he captures this everyday street. It reminds me that painting is about time. The time it takes to make an image, and the time it takes to really see the world around us. Foujita shares this generosity with all the viewers who are seeing the image now. Painting becomes a dialogue between the artist, their subject, and their viewer. It’s like we are joining an ongoing conversation.