Self-Portrait in Profile Toward Right 1938

This self-portrait was made by Kathe Kollwitz with charcoal on paper, and it’s now at MoMA. Look how she builds up the image with these short, scratchy marks. It’s like she’s feeling her way around her own face. The texture created by the charcoal gives the portrait a real sense of weight and presence. You can almost feel the grit of the charcoal on the page. I like the way the marks around her shoulder become looser, more gestural. It's as if she has become more interested in capturing the essence of herself. It reminds me of Rodin's drawings - not trying to capture the likeness of the subject, but something else. Ultimately, art is a conversation, a back-and-forth across time and between artists, and these drawings invite us into that conversation.