Figurstudie. Liggende kvinde og knælende figur. 1906 - 1909

Othon Friesz made this ink drawing of two figures on paper, its contours describe a choreography, a dance across the page. It’s all about process, a kind of mapping out of forms through lines, where the route becomes more important than any fixed destination. The figures are described by very few lines, some parts are described in more detail, with overlapping marks and smudges. I love the ambiguity of the forms, they are solid and shifting at the same time. The kneeling figure, for example, becomes a puzzle, a series of marks that we can more or less resolve into a human shape. But the shapes are more interesting than the figure, because they are alive, full of movement and possibility. It reminds me of Picasso’s line drawings, where the essence of a form is caught with very simple, economical means. The work embraces uncertainty, suggesting that art is a conversation, not a lecture.