Sand2023

of the world around her—that is, her ability to describe things using formal means of line, color, and shading—parallels her facility with words, phrases, and figurative language in her writing. However, none of the drawings she produced before the 1860s prepares one for the radical inventiveness of her taches and dendrites , for it is these works that reveal the true force and originality of Sand’s gift as an artist. Sand referred to her late watercolor and gouache drawings as “ dendrites ” (the term derived from her study of natural history and refers to mineralogical elements) or “ aquarelles à l’écrasage” (crushed watercolors). She made them by applying dollops of pure pigment to a piece of thick Bristol paper, then pressing a second moistened sheet on top. When the sheet was lifted, a series of abstract, textured zones of color were revealed which she then augmented with watercolor and gouache additions. As Sand wrote, “This crushing produces ridges that are sometimes curious. With the aid of my imagination, I see woods, forests or lakes, and I accentuate these vague forms produced by chance.” The images found in the dendrites are thus a fusion of the real and the imaginary, depicting recognizable motifs such as mountains, grottoes, lakes, and castles which are nonetheless entirely fictional. Other works, which Sand called “ taches ” (stains), retain their initial inchoate forms, and remain