Female Image 1960

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing, Female Image, sometime during his lifetime with pen on paper. What strikes me first is the hatching, those confident and rhythmic lines. See how they build up the shadows and describe the form of the figure? It's a process of layering, a kind of mark-making dance. Look closer at the lines on the figure's chest. They're softer, more tentative than the dense, assertive strokes forming the background. It's like Havrylenko is feeling his way around the subject, unsure, perhaps a little nervous? Or maybe the lines are more widely spaced to suggest the lightness of the breast. Notice how the hatching changes direction to suggest the contours of the body, the way the lines almost fade out, leaving the form to emerge from the whiteness of the paper. This reminds me a little of the work of Egon Schiele, though Havrylenko's touch is lighter, more open. Like Schiele, Havrylenko embraces the ambiguity of the line, allowing it to suggest form without fully defining it. It's a beautiful balancing act between observation and invention, a reminder that art is as much about the process as the final image.