Untitled 1943

This drawing of a military figure was made by Kukryniksy sometime in the mid-20th century. It's the kind of drawing where the line just goes for a walk, describing form without ever getting too bogged down in details. Look at the face, all the little lines that make up the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth! You get the feeling the artist was really seeing, really scrutinizing, but also allowing for some looseness, some happy accidents. It's all about trusting the process, letting the hand do its thing. The marks are pretty transparent, and the colours are subtle, creating an almost ghostly effect. Notice how the figure fades into the background, like a memory or a fading photograph. This makes me think of someone like Philip Guston, who was also all about the expressive line and the power of caricature. Art is never made in a vacuum, it's always in conversation with what's come before.