Untitled c. 1940s

This untitled print was made by Judith Rothschild, and you can see how she's playing with flatness and abstraction. She wasn't afraid to let the process be visible. The whole thing is built on the interplay between just two tones of gray, giving it a graphic, almost mechanical feel. But look closer – it’s not perfect. There’s a bit of texture, a slight unevenness in the ink, especially in that big, almost cloud-like shape in the center. It's solid, but with a kind of gentle vulnerability, like a shadow trying to hold its form. These areas where the ink seems to almost crumble reveal the hand, the labor, the realness of the artist behind the image. Rothschild's approach reminds me of some of the early abstractionists who were trying to distill form down to its essence. This piece embraces ambiguity, inviting us to lose ourselves in the push and pull of shapes and tones, and the many interpretations we can all have.