The Rest c. 1948

Samuel Bookatz made this drawing called 'The Rest' with graphite on paper. You can see how lightly the marks sit on the page, the way he seemed to caress the paper with graphite, it is almost as if he wanted to disturb the surface as little as possible. Look at how the hatching around her face and hands gives them definition. It is beautiful, really. So delicate and tentative. He must have been working from life, because the drawing has all those adjustments and corrections that come from trying to capture the fleeting presence of a real person. The image is a moment captured in time, but it also took time to make it, don't forget that. The softness makes me think of Agnes Martin’s minimalist grids, which she saw as representing an escape from the material world. What do you think? Is this an escape? Or an embrace?