Leg and Hand 1938

Vajda Lajos made this drawing ‘Leg and Hand’ with pencil on paper; its date is unknown, but it’s likely from the late 1930s. Look at the way the charcoal line nervously probes the page, building up an evocative scene of bodily fragments and disembodied objects. You can see the artist figuring things out, allowing forms to emerge and dissolve. It’s like he’s working from memory, feeling his way around the subject, searching for something. I wonder if he had a particular image in mind? It reminds me of a surrealist game, or automatic drawing. What was he thinking as he combined these elements together? What kind of feeling was he trying to evoke? It makes me think about other artists like André Masson and Joan Miró, who used similar techniques to tap into the unconscious and create dreamlike imagery. These artists are all in conversation together; across time, they keep inspiring one another.