Edward Leiter 1927

Alice Pike Barney made this portrait of Edward Leiter with pastel on paper. It’s really all about these soft, feathery marks in muted greens, browns, and grays. I can imagine Barney in her studio, maybe late in the day, looking intently at her subject, Edward, then back at the paper, building up the image bit by bit, mark by mark. I wonder what she was thinking about as she worked? Look at how she’s used the side of the pastel stick to create these hazy, luminous shadows on his face. It's like she's trying to capture not just his likeness, but also something of his inner life. Artists, we’re always looking, borrowing, and riffing off each other, right? When I look at this I'm put in mind of a looser, more contemporary version of a Renaissance portrait, a sort of modern take on capturing the human spirit. Ultimately, painting lets us explore the world in a more open-ended way. There are no right or wrong answers, just different ways of seeing and feeling.