Pierrot en ruiter op een dressuurpaard 1934

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this etching, 'Pierrot on a dressage horse,' at an unknown date. The soft, silvery lines and the paper itself give it a ghostly quality. The lines are gentle, almost tentative, like a memory fading at the edges. The etching feels like it's about performance, but also about absence. The Pierrot looks almost mournful, detached, like he's already halfway out the door. There's a real sensitivity in the way the hatching defines the forms. Look at the left-hand edge of the curtain. The lines are packed tightly together, creating a sense of depth. The hatching is directional, so we feel the shape and weight of the fabric. The whole image is infused with a sense of melancholic theater. There's a fragility here that reminds me of early Picabia or even some of the dreamier works of Odilon Redon. The conversation between artists, across time and place, is one of constant, beautiful misunderstanding. And it’s in that space of uncertainty, that our own interpretations come to life.