The fight 1938

Ossip Zadkine made this painting, called "The Fight," with some kind of paint, maybe gouache or casein, and paper. The colours are muted, like faded frescoes, all greys, browns and whites, and the figures are outlined with dark contour lines like stained glass. The material aspect of the work is all about layering, pentimenti, and ghostly repetitions; Zadkine’s process is like slow archaeology. The shapes are rounded, monumental, they recall classicism but they are also a bit off, like a dream. Look how the raised arms of the figures echo and overlap, creating a sense of motion and instability. The fight seems less about aggression, more about struggle and effort. This piece reminds me of the work of Marsden Hartley, especially his figurative paintings. Both artists grapple with the representation of the body, creating forms that are both powerful and vulnerable, caught between abstraction and figuration. Art is never fixed, always an echo of a feeling.