Lerand in the Role of "Rodin" in The Wandering Jew 1903

Edgar Chahine made this print, Lerand in the Role of "Rodin" in The Wandering Jew, using drypoint and etching, sometime in the early twentieth century. Look at how the shadows give form to the figure and give the image a brooding quality. I can imagine Chahine hunched over his plate, scraping and biting into the metal, building up the image bit by bit. How much pressure did he apply to get that velvety black? It's as if he’s carving out the very essence of Lerand's Rodin, pulling him from some unknown realm, to tell a story. I'm particularly drawn to the way the figure emerges from the darkness, a face of contemplation, caught in a moment of reflection. It reminds me of Daumier or even Goya, artists who used printmaking to capture the human condition. This piece is part of an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring creativity, embracing ambiguity, and opening up multiple interpretations.