Man's Coat c. 1937

Here's Henry De Wolfe's 'Man's Coat', a study in brown watercolor and graphite. The layered washes of color, and the way those lines are built up so carefully, really makes you think about the process, and about how making art is actually about making time visible. There's this great tension between the flatness of the page and the illusion of form, like De Wolfe's trying to grab something real, something solid. I'm thinking especially of the way the sleeve gently curves, which he manages to give a subtle roundness with thin strokes of paint. It’s like he's feeling his way around the edges of the coat. You can see the texture of the paper coming through, which just reminds you that this is all just an illusion. This piece puts me in mind of the meticulous detail of an artist like Durer, even though De Wolfe's intentions are totally different. Ultimately, though, it's the unresolved tensions that make 'Man's Coat' so compelling.