Francais inconnus 1917

James McBey made this etching, Francais inconnus, probably in 1919, using thin lines and a light touch. It's all about suggestion rather than heavy description. There's something about the way he’s used these minimal marks to depict the soldiers and the crosses dotting the landscape that gets to me. You can almost feel the weight of the scene through the sparseness of the medium. Look at how a few quick strokes create the helmets and the folds of their uniforms. The crosses are like ghostly markers, each one a tiny, emphatic statement. McBey reminds me a bit of Käthe Kollwitz, not in style exactly, but in the shared intensity and humanity of their subjects. Ultimately, art isn't about answers. It's more like a conversation, a way of seeing and feeling that keeps evolving.