Trouble in Frisco c. 1938

Fletcher Martin made this drawing called ‘Trouble in Frisco,’ with ink on paper. It's an image that has a real circular energy, focusing on the altercation between the two men, and how the forms are wound together, tensed, like a spring. I'm looking at those lines, how they build up, hatching into areas of dark and light to make this image come alive. Look at how Martin renders the scene like a coiled knot: the way the figures press into one another, all elbows and strained necks, locked in a tight embrace. I can imagine Martin trying to work out the composition, shifting the figures this way and that, until they fit just so. I wonder what it was like to make this image, the pressure of the pen on the page, building up the dark shadows to give the figures their weight and solidity. There's something deeply satisfying about the graphic and the image itself. Martin is in conversation with other artists across time, inspiring creativity and reflection on the world around us.