Barracks Clignancourt 1919

Ossip Zadkine made this print, Barracks Clignancourt, using etching, probably in the 1910s or 20s. Look at how the cross-hatching creates a sense of depth and shadow, like the city is made of tiny lines, and the people become angular figures. See how the ink is bitten into the metal plate, creating texture you can almost feel? The stark contrast between the dark lines and the light paper really gives the image a graphic punch. The buildings lean precariously, but it’s the figures that fascinate me most: those long, thin arms reaching out, creating these strangely simplified human forms that almost blend into the background. It’s as if they are both part of, and alienated from, this urban landscape. I am reminded a little of the futurist prints by Umberto Boccioni, which try to capture the speed of modern life. Ultimately, prints like this remind us that art-making is just a lot of careful lines.