Plate of Sketches, including one of Max Liebermann c. 1915

Lovis Corinth made this etching, called Plate of Sketches, including one of Max Liebermann, with a network of lines; a jumble of scenes emerge as if from the subconscious. The figures, rendered in a drypoint style, create a rich, velvety texture, as if the artist is thinking through the image as he makes it. See how he’s scratched directly into the metal, allowing the burr to catch the ink, resulting in those wonderfully soft and blurred lines, which are kind of dark and inky. I’m drawn to the way Corinth uses line weight to suggest depth and form. Notice how the heavier, darker lines give weight to the figures, while the lighter, more delicate lines suggest movement. There's an urgency in his mark-making, a real sense of the artist grappling with the medium, willing to let the process guide him. This embrace of the imperfect, the unfinished, reminds me of Philip Guston's later work. Like Guston, Corinth seems to be inviting us into his process, showing us the messiness and the struggle, the very things that make art so compelling.