Girl Straightening Her Hair 1909

Pekka Halonen made this drawing of a girl straightening her hair with what looks like a graphite stick, almost like he’s thinking through the subject. The colour is muted, subtle, like a memory. I can imagine Halonen studying the fall of light across her shoulders, the quiet concentration in her face. He’s using these marks to find form, the cross-hatching building up shadows and volume. There’s a vulnerability to the pose, a sense of intimacy, like we’re catching her in a private moment. Halonen’s drawing reminds me of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz, who were also drawn to depicting women’s everyday lives with honesty and empathy. It makes you think about how artists are always responding to each other, building on the ideas of the past.