Snowdrops 2003

Tetyana Yablonska made this pastel drawing, Snowdrops, with powdery hues. I love the way the marks float on the page like a memory. I can imagine Yablonska making this in her home, perhaps in the morning light. She’s capturing the feeling of spring, of freshness. I see the way the stems lean and stretch; how the flower heads droop, heavy with the weight of their whiteness. She’s evoking the quiet elegance of the snowdrops. The composition is simple, but the execution is delicate and full of feeling. Yablonska was a Ukrainian artist who was known for her impressionistic style. Like other painters, she was always looking at the world, noticing fleeting moments and the effects of light and atmosphere. With its lightness, the work reminds us that paintings are sites of exchange across time. Each artist builds on the work of those who came before, offering us new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.