Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 1938

Walter Tittle made this print of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and you can see how the marks build up, line by line. It's like watching a drawing slowly emerge, bit by bit. The thing that strikes me is the texture, how the lines are so close together, especially in the face and around the collar. They almost vibrate, creating a sense of depth. The white of the paper pops through, giving the print a luminous quality. Look at the line work describing the moustache, where they seem to dance on the page. It reminds me a little of the drawings of Marsden Hartley; there's the same intensity of focus, the same feeling that the artist is really trying to capture something essential about the person they're portraying. Ultimately, it's a beautiful example of how art can be about seeing, feeling, and making marks.