Two Bareback Circus Riders c. 1930

Pavel Tchelitchew’s Two Bareback Circus Riders is made with brush and ink on paper. You can see the process in the wash of the ink, the way it spreads, blots, and pools. It's all about embracing the fluidity of the medium. The texture comes from the way the ink interacts with the paper, creating these subtle variations in tone and depth. Look at the horse’s mane, the way the dark ink bleeds into the lighter areas. It’s this gesture that gives the horse its wild, untamed energy. It’s like Tchelitchew is letting the ink do its own thing, allowing for a sense of chance and spontaneity. This feels to me like something you could see in a Delacroix painting, all that movement and drama, but rendered with a kind of raw immediacy. Tchelitchew reminds us that art is about the dance between control and letting go, about finding beauty in the unexpected.