Milutin Milanković 1945

Paja Jovanovic made this graphite portrait of Milutin Milanković, and you can see how the artist used soft hatching to build up the volume of the head and shoulders. I can imagine him, pencil in hand, observing his subject, feeling for the planes of the face. There are some interesting smudges around the background, and I wonder whether those happened by accident, or whether he carefully added them to build up depth in the picture. Look at how the lines around the shirt are loose and free. There is a lovely contrast between the studied, careful attention given to the face, and the open, gestural marks used elsewhere. It's this contrast that animates the image, giving it a sense of lively observation. It reminds us that artists are constantly in dialogue with one another, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off each other's ideas across time. Ultimately, it is the ambiguity of the image that makes it so interesting, leaving room for us to bring our own interpretations.