P.F.1938 1938

Mikuláš Galanda made this linocut in 1938, using black lines and pops of yellow and red, it’s a print of a mother embracing a child. The image comes into being with these decisive lines, confident shapes filled with bold color. Imagine Galanda carving into the linoleum, a material that’s kind of like hard rubber, transferring a drawing and then digging into the surface with chisels and gouges. What was it like to make those marks? I wonder if he ever slipped up and had to adjust. The painting has a limited palette, the red spots for cheeks and the yellow stripes on the mother's head feel really playful. A thin red line hugs the bottom of the print, anchoring the figures, while the hands holding the child are just these simple curved strokes. I’m thinking about Matisse, who also used line to such great effect. It reminds me that artists are always in dialogue, borrowing and riffing off each other. Painting is an embodied expression, it embraces ambiguity, it allows for multiple readings.