The Pie-Faced Squilk and Her Pink-Nosed Neighbor c. 1922

This image presents a small painting, or maybe gouache, by Edward Steichen, depicting a 'Pie-Faced Squilk and Her Pink-Nosed Neighbor.' Look at the textures and gentle palette of soft greens, pinks, purples, and oranges. Imagine Steichen’s hand moving across the surface, layering the colors and allowing these geometric forms to emerge from the interplay of shapes and colors. I wonder what Steichen was thinking when he made it? Was he interested in creating a visual puzzle, a set of forms that only suggest a subject? Did he aim to create a composition that flirts with representation and abstraction? There's a charming clumsiness and an off-kilter tension in the arrangement of the different parts, a balance which reminds me of other painters, like Forrest Bess, who embrace unusual compositions. Steichen had a long career and was part of an ongoing conversation between artists, inspiring creativity through exchange and experimentation. In the end, there is something very appealing in this painting precisely because it doesn't try to be too fixed or too certain.