Portrait 1997

Morteza Katouzian made this portrait with what looks like charcoal and chalk, a combo that's great for capturing light and shadow. I’m thinking about Katouzian at work here, maybe starting with a quick sketch in charcoal to get the basic forms down. Then, building up the light with white chalk, blending it with the charcoal to get those soft, subtle gradations. It’s a dance, right? Adding and subtracting, adjusting and refining, until the portrait emerges from the surface. The color palette is muted, almost monochromatic, which gives it a timeless quality. I can feel the artist capturing the essence of the person, not just a likeness, but a sense of their inner life. It reminds me of those old master drawings, where the artist is really trying to understand the human condition through observation and mark-making. This feels like a conversation across time, where artists are constantly learning from and building upon the work of those who came before, just like the conversations we have in our own studios.