The Children of the Town of Anatovka 1957 - 1961

Anatoli Kaplan made this print, 'The Children of the Town of Anatovka,' and it feels like it emerged slowly, built up from tiny, obsessive marks. You can tell that artmaking is a process, of layering, of adding and subtracting. The whole image shimmers, almost like it's out of focus, but when you look closer you notice how each mark is intentional. The surface is alive with darks and lights, rough and smooth, dense and sparse. Look how the textures in the building are created with these stippled marks, like the artist is slowly feeling his way around the form. The dog, scampering around the children, it's drawn with such a lively line, so full of movement, that you can almost hear it barking. Kaplan’s work reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, another artist who used printmaking to explore themes of community and resilience, though her work tends to be more overtly political. Like Kollwitz, Kaplan embraces ambiguity, letting the viewer fill in the gaps, adding their own interpretations to the story.