Kneeling Fool 1977

Curator: This is Cecil Collins' "Kneeling Fool," an etching, of which this print is one of fifty. Editor: Oh, it's so stark! This little figure seems completely isolated, utterly vulnerable, almost painfully earnest. Curator: Collins had a lifelong fascination with the Fool archetype, seeing them as figures of innocence and spiritual insight. Editor: The hat seems like a visual echo of that vulnerability. The way it droops suggests a questioning, a kind of uncertain faith. Curator: The fool reminds us that it’s okay to embrace the absurd. Editor: Precisely! And in doing so, we might just stumble upon a deeper truth.