Michelangelo 1938

This is Arthur William Heintzelman’s etching of Michelangelo. The whole image exists in a world of gray, which is funny when you think about the material, stone, that Michelangelo worked with! The etching is all about line. See the way the artist uses it to define form, build up tone and create shadows? Some of the lines are short and scratchy, others are long and flowing, even lyrical! Look at the background - there are so many figures there. It gives the impression of a studio, a workshop, filled with projects and people. That mark-making is a process, the way one line speaks to another, echoes another, creates the image in a way that seems almost accidental. It reminds me of Rembrandt, who had such a keen eye for observing the subtleties of human experience. In a way, the art is in the looking!