Untitled 1915

This drawing was made by Nicholas Roerich, using what looks like crayon or conte. The marks are smudgy and smushy, like the artist was feeling their way across the page. There's a real sense of touch to it. The palette is restricted, almost monochrome, but within that limitation, there's a lot of subtlety. It's less about what's being depicted – rocks, water, a distant shoreline – and more about the feel of the place. Look at the way the crayon is dragged across the paper, creating a textured surface that mimics the roughness of the rocks and the movement of the water. In the lower left, that large rock seems to anchor the whole composition. It’s a simple shape, but the artist has given it weight and presence through the use of shadow and line. It reminds me a little of Guston’s late work, that same sense of pared-down forms and melancholic beauty. It’s all about embracing ambiguity, and letting the image unfold.