Countess Lecarri 1913

This is Timothy Cole's "Countess Lecarri," a small image etched with an exacting eye. It's all about process, of course, all that careful cross-hatching creating this velvety dark ground. It's a world of blacks and grays, a nocturne, if you will. Look at how the light glances off the Countess’s lace ruff. It’s stiff, but rendered with such delicacy, it almost floats away. Cole’s focus on texture – the smoothness of her face versus the ornateness of her collar – is a masterclass in observation. The whole composition is built from tiny, precise marks. It's painstaking, but it's also kind of dreamy. Cole reminds me a little of Vija Celmins, who also uses a limited palette to create these intensely detailed, almost photographic images. Both artists show us how much can be said with so little, how ambiguity can be a strength, inviting our gaze and our interpretations.