Untitled 

This undated portrait by Hryhorii Havrylenko is made with simple ink on paper, but don't let that fool you. The pattern in the background is meticulously drawn, creating a sense of depth and texture, as if woven on a loom. The use of cross-hatching, a technique common in both drawing and printmaking, gives the figure volume and dimension. You'll notice the artist varied the density and direction of the lines to suggest the contours of the woman's form and create subtle tonal changes. The regularity of the woven-like pattern in the background hints at a mechanised, repetitive process in contrast to the hand-drawn, individualised portrait. This interplay emphasizes the tension between industry and the individual, which was a common theme in art of the Soviet era, where artists often grappled with questions of labor, production, and the role of the individual within a collective society. Looking at the drawing, we can see the way the material and method can carry meaning, blurring the line between fine art and craft.