Curatorial Narrative Untitled. [Portrait of a woman] by Elizabeth Berry occupies a pivotal position within the Expressionist movement, circa 1926-1939, when artists were pushing against the conventions of representation to explore new modes of abstraction and psychological depth. The artist’s bold application of impasto creates a textural quality that imbues the subject with an almost tactile presence, while the judicious use of yellow and brown hues invests the composition with a sense of atmospheric weight. As such, Berry’s portrait resists traditional notions of portraiture, instead evoking a fragmented, industrialized modernity.Upon enlargement to 44×55 inches, Berry’s palette takes on a life of its own, modulating its chromatic structure to create an almost sculptural depth within the spatial rhythm of the composition. The interplay between yellow and black, in particular, assumes a material quality that recalls the rough-hewn