Siddende klovn med hat, vendt mod venstre. 1908 - 1909

This drawing of a seated clown with a hat, facing left, was made by Othon Friesz. It’s all about line here, isn't it? Look how the forms have emerged from this frantic, searching scribble – each line a new beginning, a new possibility. The hat sits perched on the clown’s head, a jaunty angle suggesting a hint of defiance or maybe just plain foolery. I wonder what Friesz was thinking as he put pencil to paper, chasing after this elusive figure, a clown caught in a moment of repose. It reminds me of those times in the studio when you're trying to capture something fleeting, a feeling, a gesture, and the drawing becomes a record of that very search. Each mark is a step, a stumble, a recovery. In Friesz’s wider body of work, as well as that of other artists, there is this conversation, this dialogue, across time and space. Like echoes in a hall, artists respond to one another, inspire each other’s creativity.