Music performance 1930

Tadeusz Makowski created this painting, Music Performance, with what looks like oil on canvas. The earthy palette, punctuated by the odd stripe of bright colour, gives it a lovely warmth, as if the scene is lit by candlelight. I love how the figures seem assembled from geometric blocks, like little wooden toys. Look closely at the hands. Aren’t they extraordinary? Especially the way Makowski has built them up with layers of short, choppy strokes. Each mark feels deliberate, almost architectural. It’s as if he's not just representing hands, but constructing them. The way Makowski has used warm reds and browns, along with the textural brushwork, makes the hands look almost three-dimensional, like you could reach out and touch them. You might compare him to Léger, but without the machine aesthetic. He has a childlike quality all of his own.