Velázquez c. 1963

Leonard Baskin made this Velázquez print with stark black ink on paper. I can imagine the artist working intensely, carving and cutting into the block with focused energy. I wonder, what was he thinking about when he was working on this? I feel like the solid black ink in this print really emphasizes the contrast between light and shadow, drawing your attention to the play of forms and textures. Look at the face emerging from the darkness with these decisive marks; they communicate a sense of weightiness, melancholy, and maybe even resilience. You can see him thinking about Goya, too. The way Baskin worked, digging into the material, reminds me that artists build on the ideas of those who came before. It’s like one long conversation across time. And this reminds us that making art is a form of embodied expression, full of ambiguity.