Newborn 1948

This is "Newborn" by Jacob Kainen, a small etching made sometime in the mid-20th century. Look at the way Kainen built up the image with these tiny, insistent lines. You can almost feel the scratch of the etching tool across the metal plate. It's like he's trying to capture not just what he sees, but the very act of seeing itself. The starkness of the black and white really emphasizes the emotional weight of the scene, that tender bond between mother and child. Notice the way the lines are more dense and frantic around the figures, and then looser and more gestural in the background. It's as if the world outside this intimate moment is just a blur. That insistent, almost frantic mark-making reminds me of some of the early expressionist printmakers like Kathe Kollwitz. There's a similar sense of urgency, a need to communicate something deeply felt. Ultimately, this work is about how art can be a way of feeling and thinking, rather than just representing something.