Portrait of Ilya Bolotowsky 1930

William H. Johnson painted this "Portrait of Ilya Bolotowsky" with what looks like oil on board, and right away, I'm drawn to its directness. Johnson's mark-making feels exploratory, like he’s figuring it out as he goes, which, let's be honest, is what painting's all about anyway. The colour palette is pretty restrained, mostly blues and browns, but there's this juicy orange highlight on Bolotowsky’s face that just pops. You can see the texture of the paint, especially in the background, where it's thick and almost sculptural. It’s like Johnson’s wrestling with the medium. The way he’s daubed the paint around the eyes makes them seem huge and expressive. It’s raw, but there’s such honesty there. For me, this portrait feels like a collision of influences. I'm reminded of Marsden Hartley, another American modernist who embraced a kind of expressive figuration. But Johnson's got his own thing going on—a unique way of seeing and feeling the world. I love that.