Faces in a Black Canopy

About the work

A branching network of black brushstrokes occupies almost the entire horizontal field. A large dark face emerges at its centre, while a second, paler head tilts to the left below it. Pink and violet passages barely separate the features from the surrounding mass. White openings between the broad marks break up the ground and prevent it from becoming an uninterrupted shadow.

The two faces do not appear at once: the central upright form registers first, then the eye discovers the neighbouring head and returns to the surrounding tangle. Outlines repeatedly disappear into the overall movement. The work's affinity with expressive portraiture lies in this organisation of the surface: the face remains recognisable even as its boundaries almost dissolve into an independent rhythm of strokes.