Kneeling, Small (Kniende, klein) 1910

Wilhelm Lehmbruck made this etching, ‘Kneeling, Small’, using a technique that’s all about process. You know, how the acid eats into the metal plate, creating this whole world of tone and line. The magic here is in the details, see the way the lines describing the figure are so delicate, almost tentative? But then look at the plate tone, that overall grunginess, which gives the piece this moody, almost melancholic feel. There’s something vulnerable in the way she’s hunched over, her head bowed, it’s echoed by the fragility of the etched line. It feels like you are intruding on a private moment. Lehmbruck was part of that generation trying to find a new way to represent the human figure, like Rodin, but maybe a bit more raw, a bit more real. It's like art is always asking, what does it mean to be human, anyway?