Black Pillars 1919

František Drtikol made "Black Pillars" with charcoal, and what strikes me is the kind of controlled looseness. It’s a tonal drawing, using subtle gradations of dark and light to describe form. It’s not about hard edges, but about the atmosphere. There’s a real push and pull in the materiality of this piece. The charcoal is smudged and blended, creating a velvety texture, but then there are these sharp, decisive lines that define the edges of the pillars. Look at how the light catches the side of the second pillar from the left; it's almost like Drtikol carved into the darkness to reveal the form. It reminds me that artmaking is a process, not just about the image, but about what happens between the hand and the material. I see echoes of Symbolist art in this work, like maybe Odilon Redon. Drtikol embraces ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own experiences and interpretations to the fore.