Irish Kids 1938

Will Barnet made this print of ‘Irish Kids’ with strong contrasts between black and white, and it seems he really enjoys thinking about flatness. I can imagine him, carefully carving out the shapes of the children, their faces, and this fascinating stroller, block by block. Look at the girl on the right, eating, lost in thought, the stark white of her legs walking off the picture plane. I love the ambiguity of the image and how it invites you to complete it in your own mind. It reminds me a bit of Matisse, and how he flattened things out into simple shapes. Barnet's image is stripped down to the bare essentials, black and white, like he is trying to get to the heart of something elemental. Isn’t it great how each artist sort of answers what another artist is thinking about? They are in conversation, across time, inspiring each other, arguing too, maybe. Art opens up a space for uncertainty, and it is up to us to interpret and bring our own experiences to it.