Symphonie Asfiguratique 1935

Alfred Rudolph made this print, Symphonie Asfigurative, using etching. It's all about the contrast between light and dark, with these scratchy lines creating a world that feels both dreamlike and a little unsettling. The conductor figure is interesting, isn't it? With a flick of the wrist, it’s as if he’s not just leading an orchestra, but conjuring up the whole scene from scratch. I can almost feel the scratch of the needle digging into the metal plate as Rudolph laid down those marks. It’s a physical process, etching, where the artist’s hand and the material really come together. The more I look at the jagged peaks and troughs of the crowd, the more I think about the way Guston used to build up areas of density through repeated marks. There's a real sense of play here, a willingness to let the medium dictate the form. And in the end, it’s this ambiguity, this openness to interpretation, that makes the work so compelling.