Tired Soldier I 1919

Walter Gramatté made this etching called *Tired Soldier I*, and it’s all delicate lines in sepia. It seems like he really dug in with that needle, giving the guy dark, hollow eyes. I feel for this dude, you know? The way his hands hang off that chair, those lines tell me everything about exhaustion. It reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, her prints have a similar way of digging into the depths of despair and human suffering. I wonder if Gramatté looked at her work? Those vertical lines behind him? Maybe they are bars. Or maybe he's just seeing things. A single gesture can communicate so much—that single line defining his slumped shoulders screams defeat. Artists, we’re all in this conversation together, borrowing, stealing, riffing off each other, across time. It’s an ongoing exchange, a messy, beautiful dialogue.