Jacky 1947

This is 'Jacky', drawn by Henri Matisse in 1947. I can imagine him working on this, trying to capture something essential about the sitter with the fewest possible marks, and somehow nailing it! It's all about the line in this drawing; how it flows and defines the form, and how the negative space is just as important as the positive space. It's not just about what’s there, but also what's left out. Look at the mouth, the eyes, the hair, and how he gets so much expression and character with such simplicity. For Matisse, line was a way of thinking, a direct connection between eye, hand, and paper. The economy of means reminds me of other artists like Picasso, or Giacometti, who were also trying to distill form down to its bare essence. It makes me want to grab a pen and paper and start drawing, to see what I can discover about the world through this simple act of mark-making.