Female image. Sketch 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this sketch of a female image with ink on paper. The line is so minimal, but decisive, right? It reminds me of the drawings of Cocteau, or even Picasso’s line drawings. In one stroke, the artist captures the essence of the face, and implies a volume. I think a lot about the process of making art, the way ideas emerge through doing. The way that the hand and the eye speak to each other and the mind. I like to think of Havrylenko sitting with his pen and paper, his concentration, his breath held, as he made this image appear on the page. We keep making images of each other, don’t we? What is it, this impulse to capture a face, to see and be seen? Anyway, these artists keep each other company across time, inspiring each other.