Imaginary Paris Studio 1916

Edwin Dickinson made this drawing called 'Imaginary Paris Studio' and gosh, what a title! It's all done in black ink, and the shapes really emerge out of this dark, inky space. You can see that the whole image comes from the hand’s movements, kind of unsure, kind of searching. I can almost feel Edwin Dickinson there in his ‘imaginary’ studio in Paris. Like he’s sitting there, maybe a bit restless, trying to capture a feeling. The marks are so expressive. Look at the woman figure, the sweeping lines that suggest her dress – there’s so much energy there, you can almost hear the rustle of fabric. I wonder if he was inspired by other artists who came before him. It feels like Edwin Dickinson is inviting us to not only see the image, but to feel the making of it. He embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, and opens up a whole space of imagination.