Untitled (Abstract) 1937

This abstract drawing was made by Carl Robert Holty in 1937, using graphite on paper. What strikes me most about this piece is how Holty teases out form and depth with such simple means. He builds these almost biomorphic shapes out of soft, smudgy lines, letting the graphite bloom across the page. The shadows aren't solid; they're made of countless tiny strokes, giving everything a kind of vibrating energy. Look at how he uses the negative space, the bare paper, to define the edges of the shapes. That interplay between dark and light, solid and void, it’s like a visual push and pull. The little dot in the center of the main form, that to me, is like a tiny anchor, grounding the whole composition. You can see the influence of artists like Arp or maybe even Miro, but Holty’s got his own thing going on. He’s not just copying; he’s having a conversation with them, adding his own voice to the mix.