Fantasie: links twee figuren met mutsen op naar rechts, rechts een ingekraste verschijning met verenkleed 1919

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita made this lithograph called Fantasie, with two figures wearing caps looking to the right, and an incised figure in plumage on the right. Looking at this print, I can see how Mesquita has built up the image through a process of mark-making, cutting into the stone, and then layering those marks. It's a world built from scratches and textures. The contrast between the dark ink and the bare paper is so strong. I wonder what Mesquita was thinking as he made these cuts. Did he have a clear vision, or did the image emerge through the process itself? The figure on the right is so strange, with its feathery costume. What does it mean? Or, what did it mean to him? I love how artists build on each other, trying things out, failing, succeeding, all in the service of trying to get something across, something that matters, even if it's a mystery. That ongoing conversation across time is what keeps art alive. It is a reminder that art is always provisional, always open to new interpretations.