Portrait of a Youth 1923

Vincenzo Gemito made this portrait of a youth with what looks like graphite on paper in 1929. I love the way the soft, smudgy lines define the youth's features. It's like Gemito is feeling his way around the contours of the face. The texture is so immediate; you can almost feel the give and take of the graphite against the paper. Look at the dark hatching around the eyes, see how Gemito builds up tone. There is a real sense of weight and form, but also a kind of vulnerability, a tenderness. It reminds me a little of some of the more emotionally fragile portraits by Käthe Kollwitz. Both artists seem interested in capturing not just likeness, but a certain emotional truth. It's a reminder that art isn't about answers, it's about asking questions, and maybe, if we're lucky, glimpsing something real in the process.