Chave 1957 - 1961

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan created this lithograph called 'Chave', sometime in the mid-20th century, using a pretty tight, almost granular approach to mark making. Looking at the texture here, I'm reminded that art-making is a process, not just a product. The surface feels almost like a rubbing, built up from tiny marks, a method of layering that gives the image a tangible depth. I imagine Kaplan carefully building up the image, adding density and shadow with each pass. It's pretty clear that the drawing is really the thing here, it has an emotional rawness to it. This textural approach really comes to life around the eyes, it's like the whole portrait is focused in that region. You get a sense of a person emerging from the mist, it puts me in mind of some of the lithographs of Edvard Munch. But where Munch is interested in high drama, Kaplan seems more introspective. There's a quiet melancholy about the work that makes it really affecting. It’s a reminder that art thrives in the realm of uncertainty, where definitive answers are less important than the questions we ask.