Anna Held, from Treize Lithographies before 1906

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made this lithograph of Anna Held, maybe in the 1890s, using a crayon or something like it, on a stone. You know, artmaking is a process, it’s about seeing what happens, reacting to it. And look at that face! It's all scribbled in, alive with line. The texture is built up, one mark at a time. There’s no hiding, it is what it is. It’s honest! It feels like he’s trying to capture the inner essence of Anna, not just her surface appearance. There’s a little cluster of scribbled lines near her fingers and mouth, like nervous energy made visible. And this area of the image is much darker than her face which gives it a great sense of depth. All these marks, they aren’t just descriptive, they’re expressive. It reminds me a little of the loose, gestural quality you see in some of Degas’ monotypes, that same capturing of a fleeting moment. But Lautrec has his own thing, a way of making marks that feels raw and personal. It’s like he’s having a conversation with the stone, letting the image emerge through the process of drawing.