Woman and Two Soldiers at a Campfire 1932

Imre Reiner made this image of a woman and two soldiers at a campfire using ink on paper. Look at the red ink: it’s almost like a memory, a ghostly presence that flickers across the surface. I love how the thin lines scratch and dance, building the figures out of a kind of nervous energy. Up close, you can see the paper shining through, giving the whole image a sense of fragility, as if the scene could dissolve at any moment. The black ink is more assertive, creating a strong contrast that grounds the composition. It makes me think about how we use line to construct our understanding of the world, how a few strokes can conjure a whole scene, a whole story. The mark-making is both precise and impulsive. Reiner’s work reminds me of Goya, who also used loose, gestural lines to capture the emotional intensity of war. In the end, art isn't about answers but about the questions we ask, the connections we make, and the spaces we create for imagining other possibilities.