Perseus Beheading Medusa, III 1944

André Racz made this print, Perseus Beheading Medusa, III, using dark ink on paper. Look at the way the light areas emerge from the deep blacks, like ghostly apparitions. It’s as if Racz was feeling his way through a dark room, using shapes and lines to map out an ancient story. I can see the artist layering forms, maybe going back and forth, wiping away, adding more, trying to nail the moment of that fateful beheading! What was he thinking about when he made this, I wonder? Was he also thinking about Goya's dark paintings? The sharp, angular shapes create tension and drama. There is also a sense of the primitive, as if the image was discovered on a cave wall, an echo of a forgotten ritual. Each mark feels like a carefully considered decision, a way of bringing the myth to life, wrestling with its themes of power, fear, and transformation. It reminds me that all artists borrow and adapt ideas across time, conversing with the past, present, and future of art making.