"The Name of God is Truth" 1922

Ernest Stephen Lumsden made this etching, "The Name of God is Truth," pulling marks into a plate, wiping it back, pressing it onto paper, and then repeating that same process again, and again. I imagine Lumsden etching away at this plate, thinking about weight, burden, and the figures carrying an unseen load. Look closely. Can you feel the grit of the earth? The dust drying in your mouth? Notice how the etching captures a real sense of movement, a sense of striving, with those dry, thin lines. It makes me think about Käthe Kollwitz, another printmaker, and the heavy, dark lines she used to depict the suffering of the working class. Both artists are interested in the way the body can tell a story of hardship, etched onto the skin, into the very posture of the figures. Art is always talking to art, across time, across mediums, and across experiences.