A street 1910

Martiros Sarian made this drawing of a street in 1920, using graphite on paper. Looking at the marks, I can see Sarian’s hand moving swiftly. There's something immediate and raw about it, as if he’s trying to capture a fleeting impression. I can almost feel the artist standing there, sketching this scene, maybe with the sounds of the street buzzing around him. The lines create a sense of depth, pulling you into the scene. The figures with their burdens are just roughly hewn, and the buildings too feel like impressions of buildings, rather than attempts to draw them realistically. It makes me think about how our memories work, and how we tend to remember just the bare bones of a scene. I think of Picasso, or maybe even de Kooning, in how they could capture the essence of something with just a few lines. Artists are always talking to each other like that, across time and space. They inspire each other, responding to each other's ideas, always pushing the boundaries.