Portrait of E.A. Cooper 1926

Zinaida Serebriakova captured E.A. Cooper with what looks like pastels, using gentle strokes of peach, sienna, and charcoal. Imagine her, standing with pastels in hand, carefully building up the contours of Cooper’s face, a little here, a little there. I wonder what Serebriakova thought of him? There is softness, and a touch of formality, in the way she renders his features. The charcoal around the tuxedo is quite expressive, like a flurry of thoughts around the sitter. But then his face emerges from that, soft, sweet, but not sentimental. Look at how the colours blend into each other. It's all kind of smudgy. You know, I think that in this portrait, Serebriakova does not want to capture likeness, but to explore feeling. As painters, we are all in conversation, and that’s why painting is such an ongoing, and inspiring act. It's a shared language that’s also so personal.