Anais, No. 2 1930

Gerald Leslie Brockhurst made this etching, Anais, No. 2, with a metal plate and acid. Look how he’s used a pale tone to suggest a face in light, and the darkness to describe the space around her. I can imagine Brockhurst bent over the plate, carefully layering line upon line to build up the image. It’s a slow, deliberate process, right? A real labor of love that demands intense concentration. Look at the way he’s rendered the flowing hair, each strand a tiny mark meticulously placed, and the weight and shadow to the side, like a second presence. There's a stillness here, a quiet contemplation. She is looking out, maybe thinking, maybe waiting. It reminds me of other portraits by women artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker. Artists are always in conversation, you know, trading ideas across time. And it's precisely that exchange, that ongoing dialogue, that keeps the creative spirit alive. It’s a way of seeing and thinking, of pushing beyond what we already know.