Self Portrait 1915

This self-portrait by Jan Mankes is an etching, I imagine, scratched into a metal plate with tiny, precise marks. It’s like he's mapping the landscape of his own face, charting every contour and shadow. I can almost feel the scratch of the needle on the plate, the artist’s concentration as he peers into a mirror, trying to capture not just his likeness but something deeper. What was he thinking as he worked? Was he contemplating his own mortality? Mankes died young, and there's a vulnerability in his gaze, a fragility that the etched lines only amplify. Look at the way the light catches his brow and nose, how the shadows pool around his eyes. It’s as if he’s inviting us to look closer, to see beyond the surface and recognize the shared humanity that binds us together across time. This work is a reminder that artists are always in conversation with one another, picking up where others leave off, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.