Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costumes Parisiens, 1914, No. 158 1914

This image is one of Gerda Wegener’s fashion illustrations made in Paris in 1914. I can imagine her taking out her fine liner pen and letting the image come to life through a dance of intuition, trial and error. It’s interesting, the use of line in this work is quite different from the broad strokes of oil on canvas, yet both offer ways of seeing and thinking about the world. What I love about this image is the suggestion of movement in the lines of the skirt, it's like the model is gliding across the paper. She’s holding flowers and has a coy, knowing look, which I imagine came through in the motion of Wegener's hand, feeling what it's like to be that model, in that outfit, in that moment in time. Fashion illustration reminds me of the work of other artists like Erté and Sonia Delaunay, who embraced the world of design as a space to test their ideas. There's a conversation between artists over time, and they inspire each other, and their own creative outputs. Painting isn't just about what's on the surface, but what's going on in the mind and heart.