Portrait of N.V.Poroshina, a pupil of N.Sklifosovsky’s school 1914

Zygmunt Waliszewski made this drawing of N.V. Poroshina with pencil, maybe charcoal, on paper. I love how Waliszewski uses line, just enough line, to conjure a whole person. It reminds me that drawing is really about thinking. Look at the way he suggests the curve of her cheek, the almost imperceptible furrow of her brow. It’s so economical, right? Like he's stripping away the excess to reveal something essential. The paper itself, this warm grey, it's almost like a stage, and these lines are the actors. He probably made this quickly. There's a real sense of immediacy. It reminds me a little of Matisse's drawings, that same kind of elegant simplicity. With someone like Matisse, or Waliszewski, it's like they’re inviting us into their thought process. It's not about perfection. It's about the joy of seeing and the pleasure of making.