Subway No. 3, Paris 1931

Alexander Stavenitz made this print, Subway No. 3, in Paris, and look at how he's built up all those subtle layers of grey. It’s a real process, the way he coaxes the image out of the dark. There's something about the texture that gets me, it's a bit rough, not too smooth, like he wanted to leave the trace of his hand. You can almost feel the grit of the city in the air, and it's all captured in the subtle gradations of tone. The way the figure is almost swallowed by the darkness, it makes you wonder what he’s thinking. The darkest mark of all is around the brim of the hat and the dark square of the book he is reading, and you almost can’t make out his face. Stavenitz reminds me of Morandi, in the way that he finds a way of making the everyday seem mysterious and profound. It's not about grand gestures; it's about the quiet observation, the way you can find beauty in the most unexpected places.