Reading in Bed 1952

This is Jacob Kainen’s etching, called *Reading in Bed*. The linear quality reminds me of Matisse, who used a similar technique to convey form and volume with minimal means. I imagine Kainen hunched over the plate, scratching into it with a needle, watching as the image slowly emerges. The composition is all lines, except for the solid form of the book, held in suspension in front of the figure. I wonder what Kainen might have been thinking about while he was making this? Maybe he was also reading in bed and just got up to draw. The person reading looks pretty serene, and I see the painting as a meditation on interior life. You know, all these lines are like thoughts, and painting is an act of thinking. Every line an idea, and every painting a way of expressing what it means to be in the world. The painting above the bed gives us another glimpse into the interior world of this person, making the work a painting within a painting, a dream within a dream.