Carrying the Cross 1921

Vilmos Aba-Novak made this drawing, 'Carrying the Cross,' using ink to wrestle with the weight of the subject. You can tell that the process of making this was very physical, like a dance with the material. The texture here is crucial. The frenetic, scratchy marks give it a sense of urgency. Look at the top left corner, where the ink is densely layered to create deep shadows. It’s like Aba-Novak is digging into the paper, trying to unearth something profound. The image is caught between the linear and tonal - it is the relationships between the marks which create the image. I'm reminded of Kathe Kollwitz, who also worked a lot with charcoal and printmaking. Both artists share a preoccupation with existential suffering. Ultimately, the meaning of this piece resides less in what it depicts and more in the feeling it evokes – the raw, messy, and unresolved struggle of being human.