Street Musicians c. 1939 - 1940

Reuben Kadish made this print, Street Musicians, and there is an immediacy to the mark making that makes me think of artmaking as a process. The textures are amazing, aren’t they? Look at the woman’s gown, it's a marvel of layered lines, a real symphony of hatching and cross-hatching. Each mark feels deliberate, yet the overall effect is wonderfully chaotic, like a jazz improvisation. I love the way Kadish balances the density of the dark areas with the stark simplicity of the white figure at the bottom. It's like he's playing with positive and negative space, creating a visual rhythm that keeps your eye moving around the composition. There's a particular squiggle right next to the coffee pot that gets me, it seems like a little musical flourish. It's this playful detail that hints at the interconnectedness of art, music and life, as if to say that art is always in conversation with itself and with the world. I love how Kadish embraces ambiguity and invites us to join in the fun.