Kings 1961

Rudy Pozzatti made this etching called 'Kings' in 1961. Just imagine his hand moving across the plate, digging into the metal, wiping the surface. I like to think about the physical labor involved in printmaking; there is such a kind of directness to it. The composition is arranged around four blocky figures, crowned with what looks like patterned garlands. The faces are a play of light and dark; it looks like Pozzatti used a fine hatching and cross-hatching to build up tone. I wonder if he was thinking about the weight of history. The eyes of these figures are powerful, and there's a certain symmetry to the work, but it still has a handmade quality, each king slightly different. This echoes a lot of other image-making; from medieval tapestries to modernist woodcuts. It's a reminder that every artist is in dialogue with the past, reinterpreting tradition in their own way, creating something new from something old.