Frightened Witches c. 1961

Caroline Durieux made these "Frightened Witches" – and, really, what are witches if not painters with a cauldron instead of a palette? The palette here is dusky, like twilight, with strokes of grey and faded rose weaving through the gloom. I can imagine Durieux coaxing these figures into being, each line a question, a fumble, and a discovery. It’s like she’s fishing in the dark, pulling up these ghostly forms from some deep well of collective memory. I wonder if she felt a bit like a witch herself while making this? Stirring the pot, casting spells with ink and stone, trying to conjure something unseen into the visible world. It makes me think of Goya’s darker prints and the way he too found the haunted corners of the human psyche. There's an ongoing conversation between artists across time. That’s what it’s all about: the exchange, the endless game of telephone, each artist whispering their version of the world into the ear of the next.