The Black Hat 1921

George Bellows made this portrait using lithographic crayon to describe a woman with a slightly melancholic expression, wearing a patterned blouse and a very stylish black hat. I imagine Bellows circling and circling with that crayon, coaxing her form out of the stone. He's really making the most of the crayon's possibilities, from soft smudges to sharp lines, using the lithographic surface to its full potential. You get the sense that he was totally present in that moment, responding to the push and pull of light and shadow across her face. Just look at the weave of her hat and the way the marks become more descriptive at the end. I can just feel the joy he felt when the image appeared on the paper. In many ways, drawing and lithography are not so different from painting, it's all about the intimate relationship between mark making and image, constantly inspiring each other across time.