Frontispiece 1957 - 1961

This lithograph was made by Anatoli Kaplan, who was born in Belarus but worked in Russia in the 20th Century. Look at the beautiful way he has built up these figures. He is creating a sense of time and place with the most humble of means. It feels like he’s trying to grasp the past; he's building up the image from the smallest marks. They almost feel like memories that are coming in and out of focus. Imagine Kaplan at work; his marks accumulate into these two figures, standing and talking. It feels like they’re right there in front of us. The artist must have worked slowly, building up each mark on the lithographic stone, creating a rich texture in the dark shadows and quieter open spaces. It reminds me of other artists, like Bonnard, who found ways to create deep emotional space in their work. Ultimately, artists are always looking and learning from each other, picking up the conversation.