Home on Leave 1940 - 1945

Coreen Mary Spellman made this lithograph, Home on Leave, using a black ink, which she used to build the image out of tiny little marks. It's like she's weaving a visual tapestry, one tiny stroke at a time. I love the way the image seems to emerge slowly. The surface is alive with texture. Look at the couch. The plaid is built out of these tiny marks. You can almost feel the fabric and see the way it recedes into space, how Spellman’s been able to create a sense of depth and volume with the shading. It’s not perfect or photo-realistic, but there’s a real tenderness and intimacy to the scene that comes from this soft-focus approach. This reminds me of the work of another printmaker, Elizabeth Catlett, who was working around the same time and depicting domestic scenes. There’s a similar commitment to depicting everyday life and experiences with care. Art, in the end, is about seeing – a conversation. It’s not about answers. It’s about how we look.