Female image. Illustration to Dante "Vita Nova" 1965

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this illustration to Dante’s Vita Nova with pen and ink. Imagine Havrylenko’s hand moving across the page, hatching lines to build up tone and form. The face emerges with a quiet, melancholic beauty. There's a kind of gentle geometry in the planes of her face and the fall of her hair, all rendered with such simple, direct strokes. The hatching feels almost meditative, like a form of mark-making that’s both precise and intuitive. The direction of each stroke seems carefully considered. It reminds me of other modern artists like Modigliani or even some of the German Expressionists. They were all finding ways to capture the essence of a person with minimal means. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time, inspiring and borrowing, aren’t they? This drawing reminds us that simplicity can be incredibly powerful.