President Harding 1920

Walter Tittle’s portrait of President Harding is made using delicate, scratchy lines, a bit like knitting with steel wool. I wonder what it felt like to draw Harding’s face? As an artist myself, I know the feeling of staring intently, trying to capture something essential. Tittle’s portrait has a nervous energy, those tiny marks all over the plate, cross-hatching in a way that feels both precise and frantic. The black ink is so dense in the background, almost like he’s being swallowed up. And Harding’s face – it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, isn’t it? The eyes seem heavy, burdened, the mouth set in a firm line. This print reminds me that art-making is always an act of translation, a conversation between the artist, the subject, and the materials.