Mirror 1941

Stanley William Hayter made this etching, titled 'Mirror', using a metal plate to create multiple impressions. It’s all about the line, isn't it? Crisp, clean, and somehow both precise and totally free. Look at how Hayter uses the etched line to create a fractured space, like shards of glass reflecting different angles of a single form. The surface feels almost chaotic, but there's a real control at play, a kind of dance between accident and intention. My eye keeps getting drawn to that strange profile on the left, the one with the floating eye. It's like a ghost, barely there, but it gives the whole piece this eerie, dreamlike quality. Hayter’s engagement with Surrealism reminds me a bit of Picasso’s work. You see art is like one big, ongoing conversation. It’s never just one person talking.