Smoker with a cigarette-holder 1915 - 1916

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this painting of a smoking figure, using oils, probably sometime in the early 20th century. Look at how he builds the figure from these translucent planes of ochre and tan and cream. It's like he's trying to show us the skeleton, the architecture, of this person, all at once. I keep getting drawn to this one wedge shape, right in the middle, that feels like the nose. It’s this kind of ochre yellow, a bit like mustard, that makes me think about the whole idea of portraiture. He’s playing with abstraction, for sure, but still grounded in representing someone real. De Souza-Cardoso was exploring cubism and futurism and I think he might have been in conversation with someone like Picabia. His work is this fascinating blend of styles, never settling on one answer, and that’s what makes it so exciting to look at today.