A.J. Donkin 1911

Francis Dodd made this print of A.J. Donkin using etching, a process that feels pretty physical and intense to me. I imagine Dodd hunched over the plate, scratching away, trying to capture something essential about Donkin. Look at how he’s built up the shadows with these tight, wiry lines, especially around the folds of his cloak. You can almost feel the weight and texture of the fabric. And then there are the open, airy spaces, like on Donkin's face, where the image breathes. I wonder if Dodd was thinking about how to balance detail with suggestion, how much to reveal and how much to leave to the viewer's imagination. It’s like a conversation between the artist, the sitter, and the medium itself. And now, between us. Donkin might have been a very serious man, but maybe Dodd was thinking something else, like how he’s part of a long, beautiful line of image makers.