Tavern Bust c. 1937

Walter Hochstrasser made "Tavern Bust," and I wonder what surface he worked on and what it was like in the studio that day. I like the expression of the face and how Hochstrasser got the light to sit on it. Was he having a good time that day, or was it a struggle to capture this character? I imagine he was trying to portray a certain type, maybe a local figure, full of life and stories, maybe a little world-weary. The brushstrokes, the way the colors blend, give it this sense of weight and history. I'm thinking about what a challenge it is to make a face that's so familiar and so strange at the same time. Painters are always in conversation, riffing off of one another's moves, and here I see Hochstrasser joining in, adding his voice to the chorus of artists trying to capture something essential about being human.