Portrait of the Poet Ivan Svetlichny 1965

Alla Horska painted this arresting portrait of the poet Ivan Svetlichny using forceful strokes of red, white, and black paint. I imagine the act of painting this: alla prima, wet-on-wet, as she built up the image through bold gestures and intuitive responses. I feel for Horska; what was it like to make this? The red is so visceral. Was she channeling her own blood and pain into the painting? The paint is quite thick, lending the portrait a sculptural quality. Look at the dramatic contrast between the red face and the stark black background, which creates a sense of tension and depth. Then the poet’s clasped hands—the way the fingers are rendered with such rawness, those quick daubs of paint seem to be a symbol of both vulnerability and strength. Artists are always talking to each other across time, and this painting reminds me of the raw expressiveness of Paula Modersohn-Becker or even some of the German Expressionists. Painting, at its best, is an ongoing conversation about how we experience and express the complexities of being human.