A Comfortable Corner 1887

Charles Courtney Curran painted A Comfortable Corner with oil on canvas. It depicts a woman in a white dress, seated in a corner of a room, reading a book. Curran uses the materiality of oil paint to create a palpable sense of atmosphere. Notice how the thick application of paint in the highlights of the woman's dress and the flowers conveys texture. The brushwork captures the soft drape of the fabric, and the smooth, light-reflecting petals of the blooms. The way the light is captured suggests how much labor was involved in painting and repainting in order to reflect what the artist sees. The subject's relaxation is evident. Paint is here transformed through skilled labor into an image evoking the comfort of domesticity. In this way, Curran's painting challenges traditional hierarchies, elevating the everyday into the realm of fine art.