Bulto (Santa Barbara) 1939

Eldora Lorenzini made 'Bulto (Santa Barbara)' using watercolor and graphite, probably in her studio, or maybe even 'en plein air' in 1939. The colors are muted, as if the light is fading, or the paint was mixed with dust. I'm curious about how the two figures relate – a big sister and a little sister? Or two versions of the same person? It reminds me of those paintings where the same figure appears multiple times, telling a story across the canvas. I imagine Lorenzini squinting at the figures, trying to capture the light as it hit them, simplifying the forms. Maybe she was thinking about folk art traditions, or the way memory changes how we see things. There’s a tenderness in the way she's rendered the figures that feels both intimate and universal. It's almost like a memory of a memory, blurred around the edges, but vivid in its emotional core. I love how paintings can be these little time capsules, capturing not just what something looked like, but how it felt to be there, seeing it.