Nocturne 1951

Victoria Hutson Huntley created this lithograph called 'Nocturne', probably in the early 1950s. The composition feels so considered, doesn’t it? And yet, look closely, and you can see how the image has come into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I really sympathize with Huntley. I can imagine her standing at her printing stone, working in the dark, thinking about her marks. It is all about value. How much black against white can you get away with and still read an image? I think about the physical aspects of this print, like the surface quality and the paper it’s printed on. See that bird taking off in the lower right. What a gesture! The drawing communicates feeling, intention, and meaning. Huntley’s work reminds me of other printmakers like Whistler and the German Expressionists. Artists are always in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity across time, right? I love how it embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.