Prøveplade: Barnehoved i profil 1901

This small etching of a child's head in profile was made by Frans Schwartz, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. What grabs me about it is the directness of the marks, the way the lines create a sense of form without being too fussy. You can almost feel the artist thinking through the process, figuring out the best way to describe the curve of the cheek or the shape of the ear. The whole thing has a tentative, searching quality, which is what you get with etching, a technique that's so reliant on the touch of the hand. Look at the hair, see how Schwartz uses these little, almost scribbled lines to suggest the texture and volume? It's not about perfect representation; it's about capturing a feeling, an impression. It's like the artist is saying, "Here's a kid, a real, live kid, with all his messy energy and potential." This reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz's prints, with that same raw, emotional intensity. And like her, Schwartz reminds us that art isn't about perfection; it's about exploration, about finding meaning in the messy, imperfect world around us.