Bal Tabarin 1926

Jules Pascin made this print of the Bal Tabarin, probably in the 1920s, using etching. Look at how Pascin's process is almost like a dance itself. It's not about fixing things, but more about letting the lines move and find their place, like people mingling in a crowd. The whole piece feels like a hazy memory, right? The texture, or lack thereof, adds to this dreamlike quality. The lines are so thin, so delicate, that they barely scratch the surface of the paper. It’s as if Pascin wanted to capture a fleeting moment, a whisper of a feeling. Notice the way he draws faces, they're not really complete, but just hinted at. It reminds me a little of some of Picasso's works on paper, where he also uses a simple line to capture the essence of a thing. But Pascin's got this melancholy that's all his own. Art is like a big conversation, it’s about listening to the voices of the past, and then adding your own little twist.