Zittende bokser 1930

Luc-Albert Moreau made this black and white print, Zittende bokser, and the way the tones emerge from the white paper is kind of beautiful. The ink is a bit scratchy, see how it catches on the surface and creates depth, it's like he's building the image with layers of tiny marks. Look at the way he renders the boxer's face, it's almost like a mask, or like he's both there and not there. The contrast between the dark, heavy cloak and the smooth skin is really striking. It gives it such a melancholic mood. You know, it reminds me of some of Käthe Kollwitz's prints, the way she used stark blacks and whites to convey such powerful emotion. But Moreau's got his own thing going on here, a kind of quiet intensity, an embrace of ambiguity, that stays with you.