Figurehead c. 1938

George Constantine made this intriguing watercolour called Figurehead. It's a painting of something that is itself already figurative, so we have a figure of a figure! The way Constantine uses watercolour is fascinating. See how he allows the pigment to settle into the paper’s texture? He seems to be embracing the fluid, unpredictable nature of the medium. The way the colours are applied, it feels almost like he’s trying to capture the essence of the wood itself. It's like he's allowing the wood to speak through the watercolour, creating an image that's both representational and deeply material. Look at the way the light plays across the surface, revealing the subtle undulations and the carved details. It's a bit like looking at a Marsden Hartley painting, where objects seem to carry a weight of emotional and symbolic meaning. Ultimately, the beauty of this piece lies in its ambiguity. It invites us to contemplate the relationship between representation and reality, surface and depth.