Man Facing Right 1961

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan made this portrait of a man whose face is formed out of a constellation of tiny marks. It is a brown and white affair; the man emerges from the darkness into the light. I wonder if Kaplan was thinking about the great Rembrandt when he made this artwork, you know, the way Rembrandt used light and shadow to create a sense of drama and depth. I can imagine Kaplan in his studio, carefully layering each mark to build up the form of the man's face. The beard especially has these wonderful tiny marks that gives it a sense of texture. What do you make of the blank spot beneath the beard? The whole piece feels very tender, like Kaplan wanted to capture something essential about this man, not just what he looked like, but who he was. It reminds me that all artists are in conversation, picking up ideas from one another, and adding their own spin. And like all good art, it leaves space for us to bring our own interpretations and make our own connections.