Sketch Plate 1902

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen pulled this Sketch Plate. I wonder what he was thinking? Looking at all these figures layered on top of one another, I imagine Steinlen in the act of making—scratching into the plate, line by line, face after face emerging from the ether. Are they memories? Sketches from life? I’m really drawn to the lower face, the one with the beard. His gaze is heavy with… something. Melancholy? Wisdom? It’s so lightly rendered but Steinlen has captured a depth of emotion, a life lived. I can almost feel the scratch of the etching tool as he worked, each line a delicate dance between intention and accident. Steinlen’s work reminds me of other artists like Käthe Kollwitz, who also used printmaking to explore the human condition. These artists are in constant conversation with one another, echoing and amplifying the same themes, inspiring and encouraging one another from across time. In that way, this Sketch Plate embodies a sense of openness and possibility, resisting any single, fixed interpretation.