Cloisters c. 1942

Lorene David made this intriguing print titled 'Cloisters' using black ink on paper. The image is almost entirely rendered in shades of grey, with a heavy contrast between light and dark. I see architectural forms, light streaming through an archway, and the silhouettes of two figures. It's like a stage set, and you half expect someone to break out into song. I wonder what it was like for David, building up these tonal gradations with what looks like tiny dots? Did she feel a sense of peace and quietude, or was she more interested in the formal play of shapes? I'm reminded of Piranesi and his prison scenes, but here, the mood seems less oppressive, more ambiguous. It invites you in. Like a lot of great works, it feels like you're only seeing a fragment of a larger narrative, a captured moment. Painters are always responding to each other across time, and David's work here makes me consider the ongoing possibilities within figurative and abstract forms.