Mother and Child 1911

Francis Dodd made this etching, 'Mother and Child', sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. The mark making is so intimate, that I feel he must have been drawing from life, in short bursts and stolen moments. Look at the etching's surface; the intricate cross-hatching builds up form, creating depth through density and tonal variation. The image is suffused with warmth, but it's in those tiny details that the magic happens. See the way Dodd articulates the folds of the mother's dress, or the soft curve of the child's cheek? It's like he's trying to capture something fleeting, something precious. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also tried to capture the inner lives of women and children with an unflinching directness. Art, like life, is all about embracing the messy, the unresolved, and the beautifully imperfect.