Liebespaar II 1921 - 1922

Otto Mueller made "Liebespaar II," a lithograph, by applying grease to a stone to create this image of a couple in love. It’s all about these deep blacks and velvety grays, built up in a network of marks, hatching, and cross-hatching that seem to both define and dissolve the forms. Looking at this, I imagine Mueller working the stone, feeling the push and pull of the lithographic crayon, deciding just how much pressure to apply to get the blacks just right. You know, sometimes I think artists aren't illustrating an idea but trying to find it. It makes me think of the German Expressionists, Kirchner or Heckel, who captured modern life with raw emotion, except Mueller uses softer, more sympathetic lines. It’s like he's trying to find a kind of harmony between the figures and their environment. You can see how artists are always speaking to each other, even across time, trying out different ways of seeing.