Claude Renoir, la tête baissée 1904

This sensitive drawing of Claude Renoir with head bowed was made by his father Pierre-Auguste Renoir, though when, we don't know. I can imagine Renoir senior trying to capture the fleeting expression of his young son. Those soft, smudgy marks around the face, they're not about precision, are they? More like trying to pin down a feeling, an impression. The texture of the paper seems important here, doesn't it? It allows the charcoal to really grab on, to create these rich, velvety blacks and gentle greys. The way the light catches the paper around the edges makes me feel like this is a memory, a fleeting moment brought back to life. This work reminds me of other artists, like Käthe Kollwitz, who also used drawing to capture the emotional lives of their subjects. There’s a real conversation going on between artists across time, each finding their own way to express something so essentially human.