De Profundis 1919

Yervand Kochar made this painting, De Profundis, with oil paint. I love how he’s worked within a limited range of browns and blacks to create such a powerful sense of depth. You get the feeling that he's digging deep, maybe even literally "de profundis," from the depths. Look at the way Kochar layers the paint, especially around the hands. See how the light catches those ridges and valleys? It's like he’s wrestling with the very stuff of the painting, building up this figure from the ground. The surface is so worked, almost like clay, that you can feel the artist's struggle and his resolve in every brushstroke. There is a kinship here with Käthe Kollwitz, who also used her art to communicate profound emotion and human suffering. Like her work, this painting embraces imperfection and rawness, reminding us that art doesn't have to be pretty to be powerful.