White Nights 1922

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky made this monochromatic print called “White Nights” using hatching and cross-hatching to build up tone and texture. I imagine him working in a small studio, hunched over the plate, meticulously carving lines into the surface. There’s a lonely figure standing on the street, a cat perched above. I feel his quiet solitude. Is this a self-portrait, I wonder? The rain, rendered as straight white lines, adds to the melancholy atmosphere of the scene. I wonder if Dobuzhinsky was influenced by the prints of artists like Piranesi, who also used a similar technique of creating depth and volume through intricate linework. The patterns of the building facades are amazing. They show how a simple gesture repeated can create density and interest. In their own ways, all artists use mark-making to shape our experiences of the world.