Vajda Lajos Madonna Gyermekkel 1938 1938

Vajda Lajos made this image, Madonna and Child, with pencil in 1938, and it feels like he’s really thinking through seeing as a process. Look at the way the pencil marks create depth, and how he’s built up tone on the surface of the drawing. You can see so clearly how the image is made. And that’s the point, right? I mean, artmaking is always a process, a kind of fumbling toward an idea, but here it feels so exposed. The lines are so raw, so immediate. The dark areas vibrate with energy; the image feels as though it's emerging from a dark background. It reminds me of the work of Lovis Corinth, the way both artists seem to relish in the materiality of their chosen medium. Both artists ask us to look at the way a picture is made, as well as what it represents. For Lajos, I think it’s this ambiguity, this embrace of multiple readings, that gives the image its power.