Cyclamen 1932

Grace Albee made this print of a Cyclamen sometime in her career. You can see the incised marks and how she’s used them to capture the plant’s form so beautifully. I can imagine Albee at her desk with her tools, carefully observing the cyclamen and deciding where to make the marks. She would have been looking at the flower, thinking and feeling it in her body, maybe even talking to it! I think of the physicality of the medium – the resistant surface, the sharp tool, the pressure needed to incise each line, the way the marks accumulate to create tone and texture. Look at the varying densities of the marks and how they define the delicate petals and patterned leaves, and the folds of the cloth beneath. Gesture can be a tool for communicating feeling and meaning. Like a fingerprint it's also a record of the artist's touch, a map of their movements and decisions. Each artist carries their own perspective and their work enriches our own. It’s great, isn’t it?