Wedding Dress c. 1936

This "Wedding Dress" rendering, of undetermined date, was created by Bessie Forman with what looks like graphite and watercolor on paper. Imagine Bessie, back in the day, conjuring this dress into being. It is a sketch, so we might think it has come into being quickly. The colours are earthy, and the tones are muted. There's a sense of looking back, perhaps, rather than forwards. The work is very linear and controlled with a pale wash of watercolor over the top, and it seems to have been made by an assured hand, and a very clear idea. I wonder if Bessie was thinking about other dresses, perhaps dresses in paintings, dresses she had seen in real life? Artists are always riffing on each other, an ongoing conversation that spans time and space. We never make anything in isolation, and each artwork contains echoes and reflections of everything that came before. It's all a big, beautiful, messy conversation, and we're all invited to join in.