Man with Head Bent c. 1957

Charles Knowles made this print, *Man with Head Bent* with a deep navy blue background and grey, textural shapes to frame the figure. I can imagine Knowles making this print; there’s a feeling of someone in the depths of despair. The man is so slight, like a delicate thread, and there’s something very vulnerable about his posture. I think about the process of creating this piece. Perhaps Knowles laid down that blue first, the flat plane, like a mood. Then he introduced these rough textures, like stormy weather, and the figure almost seems to emerge from the background, rather than being placed on top of it. The man appears to be at a crossroads. Knowles died very young, only nineteen. I think about other artists who had tragically short lives – like Raphael or Basquiat. And I wonder if this feeling of something unresolved and uncertain is because he was working within a limited time frame.