Miss Thea Proctor 1903

George Washington Lambert made this portrait of Miss Thea Proctor in oil paint, and it’s really about the textures. There’s a kind of velvety feel to the way the colors are layered. Look at the dots on her dress, how they almost seem to float on the surface! Then think about the tree behind her with the big, swooping, gestural brushstrokes. Lambert’s not trying to hide anything about how he made this painting, and that, for me, is where the interest lies. It’s a painting that reminds me of Whistler. The way he captures a certain kind of melancholy mood with just a few simple strokes, and how he implies a space with these very thin washes. The painting is very much in the European tradition of portraiture, but he has his own eye. Art is always a conversation between artists, across time, each one bringing their own perspective to the table, without necessarily providing any answers, just different ways of seeing.