Mirrored Music 1945

Jack Bookbinder created this lithograph, Mirrored Music, using stone and crayon, sometime in the mid twentieth century. The beautiful shading is what gets me about this piece. The subtle gradations from light to dark, built up with tiny, soft marks, really describe the volumes of the head and hands. See how the whole image seems to emerge out of the darkness, like a memory or a dream. The soft texture gives the image a hazy, ethereal quality. It is like the music is almost visible as it pours out of the flute, the hands caressing the instrument. Look closely, you can even see the shadow cast by the figure on the wall behind, creating a sense of depth and space. Artists like Kathe Kollwitz come to mind, with their sensitive handling of light and shadow. Ultimately, like all art, this is just a conversation between images, each one echoing and transforming what came before.