Shorty George 1943

Norman Lewis made this print, Shorty George, in 1943. It's all about the mark-making here; those tiny, energetic lines build up the image from the bottom, like a swarm of bees constructing a hive, or a jazz band building to a crescendo. Looking closely, you can almost feel the scratch of the engraver's tool on the plate. The image isn't just seen, it's felt, especially in the rendering of the figure. See how the lines around his face and hat are more densely packed, creating this concentrated area of focus? It makes you think about the energy of the city, the buzz of the jazz clubs, and the artist's own hand moving across the plate. Lewis's work from this time often explored social themes, but there's a deeply personal element here too. You can see echoes of someone like Jacob Lawrence in his work, another artist deeply invested in depicting the Black experience, but Lewis always had this abstract sensibility bubbling underneath. To me, the image is a snapshot of a moment, a mood, captured with incredible sensitivity.