A haunting, atmospheric portrait by Balcomb Greene, where the human form dissolves into a series of fractured, monochromatic light and shadow.

Gertrude III, painted by Balcomb Greene around 1956, represents the artist's transition from geometric abstraction toward a more atmospheric, figurative style. Greene, a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group, moved away from rigid forms during the 1940s and 1950s to explore the interplay of light and shadow on the human form. This work exemplifies his interest in the dissolution of the subject, where the figure emerges from and recedes into a field of fractured, monochromatic planes. The composition is dominated by a high-contrast palette of whites, greys, and deep blacks. The subject's features are not rendered with anatomical precision, but rather through broad, gestural brushstrokes that suggest the presence of a face. The dark, central massing of the paint creates a sense of depth, drawing the eye into the obscured facial structure. Greene often spoke of his desire to capture the elusive nature of perception, and here, the paint application creates a shimmering, unstable effect. The edges of the figure blur into the surrounding space, making it difficult to distinguish between the subject and the background environment. Greene's technique involves layering thin washes of oil paint, which he then scrapes back or overpaints to achieve a sense of luminosity. This process results in a surface that feels both solid and ephemeral. The work avoids the aggressive mark-making often associated with his contemporaries in the New York School, opting instead for a more contemplative, quiet approach to abstraction. By focusing on the ambiguity of the human image, Greene invites the viewer to participate in the act of seeing, where the subject is constantly being formed and unformed by the light.