Tirca 1939

Milton Avery made this drawing, Tirca, on paper with graphite, just letting the marks build up. There’s something about the weight of the graphite that makes the figure solid, but the strokes are soft and smudgy. You know, I can see Avery really working those knuckles and fingers, building them up with short, scratchy lines. It reminds me of how much I love using charcoal, that deep black velvety darkness. It's a kind of comfort to work in that darkness, and then step back. Looking at this Tirca, I wonder what it might have been like to be Avery, just sitting there, trying to get the essence of her down on paper. Like, what was he thinking about? Was he also struggling to make ends meet? Was he just focused on the way the light hit her face, or was he thinking about her personality, too? I get the feeling Avery was interested in more than just surface appearances. He was digging deeper, trying to capture something essential about being human. It is such a generous, moving thing to do as an artist.