Girls Chorus 1916

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky made "Girls Chorus" with oil paints sometime around 1915, and you can see how the process of artmaking itself feels central. Look at the way the colors blend, almost like a memory fading at the edges, or the soft focus of a dream. There's a real materiality to this painting; you can practically feel the texture on those girls' faces, the almost haphazard brushstrokes giving them form. Notice how the light catches the page that they are reading - it's as though Bogdanov-Belsky is trying to capture not just the image of these children singing, but also the weight of the book and the warmth of the room. It reminds me of some of Paula Modersohn-Becker's work – that same attention to the weight and texture of ordinary life. Ultimately, the magic of art is this ability to freeze a moment while still keeping it alive with possibilities.