Figurkomposition 1916

This is Figurkomposition, a small etching made by J.A. Jerichau the second, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Look at the repeated lines, how they swarm and cluster to create these figures; it’s like Jerichau is thinking through form, trying to capture the essence of these people. The plate looks like it has been bitten hard, as if the artist wanted to make the lines appear very graphic and intense. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made the marks. Is the figure on the right dancing or falling? The mood reminds me of Munch's work, a sense of intense introspection and psychological searching. Painters are always in conversation with one another, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off of what has come before. Each mark is a form of embodied expression, like a gesture, imbued with potential meaning. We can never know for sure, and that’s the beauty of it.