Flute Concert c. 1935 - 1943

Sam Swerdloff made this print called 'Flute Concert', and what grabs me first is its all about the cross hatching. Look closely, and you see Swerdloff’s world is built up of these tiny, insistent marks. See how they define the soft shadows under the guitar, or the way the curtain bunches at the top of the frame? It’s like he's feeling out the forms bit by bit, one line at a time, and that really speaks to my own process as a painter, that searching, awkward building. The way the light falls feels so real, so intimate. The figures are caught in their own little world, framed by the dark drapes. Swerdloff reminds me a little of Milton Avery, in that he’s not afraid to let the image be what it is – a collection of simple shapes, and repetitive marks that somehow add up to a quiet, tender moment. It's a conversation, not a pronouncement.