Week 31: Aug. 4, 2024

The Green Domino, Albert Bloch, American, 1913, Oil on canvas

Domino, domino, domino…

The word domino comes from the latin for lord or master, but we know it more commonly as a tile game that originated in China in the 14th century and came to the US by way of the railway workers that labored building tracks across the west. It is domino tiles that became associated with the common face paint used on circus clowns in which the eyes are surrounded by black against a solid white face.

Here, the Green Domino is meant to represent a character from an earlier century of Italian comedic theater. But I think it actually foreshadows women’s dress in the twenties across the US and Europe. The shape of the costume, the tight fitting hat, the brazenly bright color, and the contrast of black and white.

What I noticed as I walked through the galleries today was that there is ongoing work, seemingly all the time, to update and change displays, and when they do so, they, of course, make very deliberate choices about the wall color behind the art. I first noticed this in the newly rearranged room holding Monet’s Water Lillies, set against a bright deep blue wall. I would never have chosen the color and yet it is beautiful. Here, we see Bloch’s bold Expressionist painting against a deep grey wall and within a golden frame which seems to amplify the ‘simplified forms and intense color.’