Watteau c. 1970

Leonard Baskin made this etching, called 'Watteau,' sometime in the 20th century. I can feel the scratch of the etching needle through Baskin's lines. What was he thinking, hunched over the plate, rendering Watteau’s face with such starkness? The face emerges from a tangle of lines, some confident and dark, others hesitant and light. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbles mixed with the weight of a Kollwitz print. Look at the eye, how it seems to bore into you, a tiny black pool amidst the chaos of the lines. The hair flows like water, an unruly cascade framing the face, softening the harshness. Baskin isn't just copying Watteau; he's wrestling with him, trying to capture something essential about the artist. It's like he is inviting Watteau into a dialogue across time. Painting is so cool, isn’t it? It never tells you exactly what to think.