Fat Thursday 1930

Tadeusz Makowski made Fat Thursday using oil paint and a brush, likely in the early 20th century. The figures emerge from a scumble of browns and tans. Are they children dressed as adults? What a strange carnival. I imagine Makowski layering these figures up from dark to light, wiping away, building up, then carving into the paint. I think of him, brush in hand, head tilted, trying to find just the right expression, that one gesture, that would capture the mood he was after. What’s Fat Thursday anyway? I can only imagine the artist, in his studio, wrestling with the painting, trying to get it to come alive. He’s part of a conversation with other artists and folk art traditions, but with a melancholic twist. Makowski invites us to consider that painting is a form of conversation, a way of thinking and feeling through the world. He shows how the physicality of paint, the way it can be thick or thin, smooth or rough, contributes to the emotional and intellectual resonance of a work.