Vajda Lajos, Madonna Szobor Feje 1937 1937

Vajda Lajos made this head of a Madonna statue in 1937 with what looks like a simple etching technique. The way Lajos worked, like so many of us artists, you get the feeling he’s just letting his hand do the work. The textures, the monochromatic surface, that’s all secondary to the raw lines that define the form. Take a look at the face, the nose is just one, single, confident line, and the eye is a simple oval. And then there’s that cluster of dots, like freckles or some kind of weird rash. It’s these little imperfections that make the piece so endearing, so human. Lajos was part of the European avant-garde, which makes me think of artists like Paul Klee, who shared this kind of simplified, almost childlike approach to form. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be polished and perfect, it can be raw, immediate, and full of happy accidents.