Head of Ali 1999

This etching, Head of Ali, by Lucian Freud, a master of portraiture, has been coaxed into existence through meticulous lines. Looking closely, you can see the dense networks of hatching that describe the planes of the face, the shadows under the eyes, the set of the mouth. I wonder what Ali was thinking as Freud worked? It's an intense, scrutinizing gaze. The marks, they don't just describe what's there, they seem to almost physically sculpt the form. He really gets into the grit of the human face! I’m thinking about Rembrandt’s etchings; that same feeling of burrowing into the psyche of the sitter. It makes me think about how artists are in an ongoing conversation, borrowing, reacting, pushing each other forward. A reminder that art isn't just about pretty pictures; it's a way of grappling with what it means to be human.