Three Female Figures 1910

Aleksandra Ekster made this painting, Three Female Figures, with oil on canvas. The painting is like a fashion plate of ideas. Check out that big red hat! The way the figures emerge from the deep blue backdrop makes me think about stage sets. The white paint, thick like icing, renders the figures like ghostly apparitions. I can imagine Ekster layering the colors and forms, feeling her way through the composition with each brushstroke. Ekster's play with color and form reminds me of other artists, like Natalia Goncharova and Liubov Popova. These painters were all in conversation, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of representation. What does it mean to paint a figure, a person? Ekster lets the question hang in the air, unresolved, leaving us to wonder. It’s a painting that celebrates the ongoing, ever-evolving dialogue between artists across time.