Girls Dancing, Harlem 1930

William L’Engle made this pencil drawing, Girls Dancing, Harlem, at an unknown date. I love seeing the bare bones of a drawing, the artist's thought process laid out right there. It’s all line in this work, a network of pale grey marks, looping and flowing to create figures, instruments, and a sense of movement. The lines aren't precious. They overlap, they sometimes go astray, they search for the right form, and that’s ok, because the beauty is in the searching. See how some of the lines are doubled or tripled? It’s like L’Engle is feeling his way through the image. There’s something very honest about seeing a work like this, before it’s been ‘finished’ or ‘resolved.’ It reminds us that art is a process, not just a product. A bit like Marsden Hartley’s drawings maybe, or Picasso, though here we have something different, a distinctly American take. It’s loose, it’s lively, and it leaves plenty of room for our imaginations to fill in the gaps.