Frances Foley 1927

Edwin Dickinson created ‘Frances Foley’ with oil on canvas, but when? It’s hard to say exactly, isn’t it? Look at how Dickinson has broken down the form of the figure into these planes, each brushstroke is like a facet of a gem! You can really see how the act of painting becomes a way of seeing. I wonder if, for him, it was about capturing something fleeting, like a dream, in a permanent form. It's such a strange painting! It reminds me of other painters who were working at this time, like Fairfield Porter, who were also interested in domestic scenes, but there is something uncanny about this painting, like a memory of a painting. You can feel Dickinson figuring out painting, and thinking through all the painters that came before him. It's kind of like he's having a conversation with them, stroke by stroke!