Head 1961

Misch Kohn made this compelling Head using lithography. What an image! I can only imagine the artist at the printing press, coaxing the image from stone to paper. The palette is limited to black and white, but within that, the range is incredible! The tonal variations create a sense of depth and volume, with the darkest areas receding into the background and the lightest areas coming forward. But the image isn’t heavy; it feels free and spontaneous. You can see the evidence of the artist’s hand, the marks of the brush or tool used to apply the ink. They are alive! I wonder if Kohn saw this head as a portrait of someone specific or an everyman, all of us. It reminds me that artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other’s creativity across time. Painting, in particular, is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and multiple meanings.