Small Vase of Flowers (Petite vase de fleurs) 1949

Jacques Villon made this etching, Small Vase of Flowers, using a pretty tight mark-making approach. Look at those tiny, close-knit lines! The whole thing vibrates, right? There's such a beautiful sense of light and shadow, even though it's just black and white. I get the feeling Villon was exploring how simple lines can create depth and form. The vase almost glows, doesn’t it? The flowers on the other hand have real bite - almost menacing! Check out how he uses the vertical lines to create not just the background, but also the surface the vase sits on. It is a tight composition. It makes me think about how artists like Picasso and Braque, his contemporaries, were also dismantling and reassembling the world, one line at a time.