A Moment to Herself

A mid-century figurative painting painted in 1955 that captures a contemplative figure absorbed in quiet work, seated near a sunlit window,  executed in oil onto canvas.

The subject is cloaked in soft whites and muted yellows. Her back is turned, head bowed slightly, hands poised at a table – offering a moment of private introspection or perhaps diligent creation.

Executed in a restrained, modernist style, the composition flattens and abstracts the figure and environment into planes of diffused light and soft geometry. The painting evokes a hushed, almost spiritual atmosphere, reinforced by the play of cool blues and dusky purples that mingle with the warm earth tones of the interior.

The artist’s brushwork is loose yet deliberate, layering paint in broad, textural strokes that blur the lines between body and space. The window, though suggested rather than rendered in full detail, casts a cool radiance into the room, lending a structural balance and emotional focal point.

This is a quietly moving piece – imbued with the kind of everyday poetry that typified mid-century figurative painting, where solitude, domesticity, and light become the true subjects.