The Two Faces of Juliet 1939

In György Kepes's "The Two Faces of Juliet," you see a ghostly double profile bisected by a network of lines and shapes. I imagine Kepes, with a steady hand, carefully plotting these geometric forms over the hazy likenesses. What was he thinking about when he made this piece? A constellation of thoughts perhaps, mapped onto the contours of a face. Look at the way he uses contrasting tones to create a sense of depth. It’s like he’s peeling back layers of identity, revealing the inner architecture beneath. The black lines don't just divide the space. They connect it, suggesting unseen relationships and tensions. Kepes knew his way around art, his paintings draw on surrealism, constructivism, and op art; all kinds of cross-talk going on. It reminds me of Moholy-Nagy. Artists are always in dialogue, aren’t they? Each one building on what came before.