15351 („Mit hoffnungsvollen Füss …“) 1931

John Elsas made this collage, “Mit hoffnungsvollen Füss…”, probably in a studio, maybe at a table covered with scraps of paper and fabric. I can imagine him handling these materials, cutting, arranging, and pasting them with care and precision, to create this curious figure of a walking woman. Elsas has used patterned papers to evoke the figure's clothing. A floral print becomes the dress, while a striped fabric forms part of the head covering, combined with an area of flesh-colored paper that suggests a face in profile. I love how the flat planes of color and pattern create a sense of depth and movement, as if the woman is stepping out of the page and into our space. The green paper cut into angular feet adds a touch of whimsy. The work is naive, yet sophisticated. The artist seems like they might be in conversation with Dada collages, or the more whimsical works of Matisse. It reminds me of a kind of embodied expression, embracing a joyful uncertainty, a freedom from fixed meanings, and a space for infinite possibilities.