Nude sitting 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing, Nude sitting, at an unknown date with ink on paper. The economical lines are like a map, the artist’s hand charting a course around the sitter. Look at the figure’s left knee, how the line crosses itself, suggesting a tension, or maybe a fidget. Drawing is decision making, a process of continual refinement and adjustment. But sometimes the most interesting thing is the bit where the artist wasn’t quite sure, and left a ghost of their process showing in the finished piece. There’s something of Matisse in the simplicity of the line and the clarity of form. And yet, it is uniquely Havrylenko. It reminds us that art is always in conversation, echoing and reinterpreting what has come before, while striving to say something new. There is always room for multiple interpretations of art, and that's what makes it so great.