Hommage a Bernanos no.2 1966

Michel Ciry made this print, Hommage a Bernanos no.2, using etching. You can see he’s gone over the plate again and again. Look at the way Ciry has modeled the face. It’s a sort of chiaroscuro, with light emerging out of the dark ground, achieved by layering thin lines. His lines have this scratchy, almost anxious quality to them. You can see it in the way he renders the hair. And in the folds of skin around the eye. It's like, is this portrait emerging or dissolving? The way he has controlled the mark making shows he is connected to tradition, to the history of printmaking. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, yet he's also so very precise. It reminds me of Paula Rego's prints, where she has this similar balance of skill and spontaneity. Art is a conversation and it makes me wonder, what would Ciry think of Rego?