The Cards (Les Cartes) 1903

Jacques Villon made this print, titled "The Cards," and you can see how he’s built it up from a set of lines, all on this off-white paper. The etched lines feel casual, like a sketch, but they define the reclining figure, her dog, and the scattered playing cards with precision. The colour is restrained, just that warm sepia tone. The beauty of this kind of printmaking is that it's about the process. The way the acid bites into the metal plate, the pressure of the press, it all becomes part of the final image. Look closely, and you can see the individual strokes and decisions Villon made. The cross-hatching that defines the shadows is beautiful. Villon’s contemporary, Picasso, often used playing cards in his cubist works to represent fractured perspective. Villon’s composition has a completely different feel. This composition has a calm elegance; a quiet, domestic intimacy. It’s about a moment, a feeling. It invites you to linger, to imagine the story behind the scene, more than presenting you with a fully resolved idea.