Akaky Akakiyevich returned from the party 1905

Boris Kustodiev made this drawing with what looks like charcoal, depicting a man walking home at night. The granular quality of the charcoal is everything here. It evokes the cold and the grainy texture of the night itself. I can imagine Kustodiev rubbing the charcoal into the paper, building up layers of tone to create the atmosphere. The whole image is a study of darks and lights. He’s thought about how the street lamp flares, about how the shadows move across the ground. There’s a real push-pull dynamic, as the figure recedes into the distance. Gestural marks like these are a language. They communicate feeling, intention, and meaning. Kustodiev is in conversation with artists like Kathe Kollwitz and Francisco Goya, all pushing the limits of this medium. Artists like Kustodiev inspire me. They remind us of painting’s capacity to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty.