Calm after Storm 1944

Perle Fine made this print, "Calm after Storm", using a plate about the size of my hand. I'm looking at the dance of blacks, grays, and whites; some fluid shapes, some staccato marks, the push and pull of dark versus light. I'm imagining Fine working on the plate: the scratching and the biting of acid, her hand guiding the tools, making marks, wiping away, reconsidering, until a composition emerges from the depths of her feelings. Maybe a sense of relief, like a storm has just passed, and the world looks newly washed? Or is she still in the storm and trying to find a way to describe it? I can feel the gesture of each mark, how it communicates feeling, intention, or maybe just the sheer joy of mark-making itself! Painters like Fine and me are always in conversation with each other across time, trading ideas and ways of seeing. We inspire each other, learning from our mistakes and celebrating the unexpected. And painting, well, it’s just one big embodied expression, full of ambiguity, uncertainty, and so many possible readings.