Self-Portrait 1959

This "Self-Portrait" is by Gabor Peterdi and it’s an etching, made using delicate and chaotic mark-making. It feels like art-making as a process, a dance between control and letting go. The texture is so interesting here. The surface is a field of tiny, obsessive lines that build into tone, describing form and light. There are so many lines, it feels almost like a swarm. The physicality of the medium is important; you can feel the incised lines into the plate, the pressure, and the repeated action. Look closely at the way the lines cluster around the eyes, creating a shadowy intensity, that gaze. That one area contains the emotional weight of the entire piece. This piece reminds me of some of the early expressionist printmakers like Käthe Kollwitz, who used stark black and white to convey deep emotional and psychological states. It’s like Peterdi is having a conversation with her across time. Ultimately, art is about embracing those ambiguities, and finding beauty in the unresolved.