Twee koppen in ovaal 1926

Erich Wichmann etched these two heads, huddled together in an oval, onto a copper plate, using the acid to bite into the metal and create those velvety, shadowed textures. I imagine Wichmann hunched over his plate, peering closely, wrestling with the image as it emerged, line by line. The faces almost seem to be melting into the ground, dissolving before our eyes. There’s this vulnerability in the way the heads are rendered, a sense of fragility and melancholy. The etched lines create a soft, blurred effect, blurring the boundaries between the figures and their surroundings. It reminds me of other artists grappling with similar themes of identity, loss, and transformation. It’s like they're all having this ongoing conversation across time. Painting is just one way of trying to figure out how we are in the world, how we affect one another.