Vajda Lajos Landscape 1927, Charcoal on Paper, 1927

Vajda Lajos made this landscape in 1927 using charcoal on paper, and right away, I'm thinking about the hand that held that charcoal, smudging and pressing, feeling the give of the paper. Look at how the buildings huddle together, their roofs almost touching. There’s something both solid and fragile about this scene, like a memory clinging to the edge of a dream. I can imagine Vajda Lajos standing there, charcoal in hand, trying to capture not just the look of the place, but also its feeling, its weight in the world. Those lines, scratchy and sure, remind me of other artists wrestling with reality, like Käthe Kollwitz. There's a tenderness in this landscape, even in its starkness. Artists are always in conversation, aren’t they? Sharing secrets across time and space, turning the ordinary into something extraordinary with just a stick of charcoal and a piece of paper.