Rural Madonna 1913

Fritz Boehle made this drawing of a "Rural Madonna" some time in the late 19th or early 20th century, and it's all about the process of looking closely. Boehle's touch is light but insistent. The whole thing shimmers in shades of grey. He manages to give each figure a remarkable sense of weight and presence. It’s like he’s building them up from the earth itself. Look at the way he renders the hands of the kneeling woman, for example. They're clasped in prayer, but they're also so solid and grounded, like they've spent a lifetime working the land. And then there's the halo around the Madonna’s head. It’s not just a flat circle; it's made up of countless tiny strokes, almost like a constellation of stars. It gives the whole scene a kind of ethereal, otherworldly quality. It reminds me a bit of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who was doing similar things around the same time, elevating the everyday lives of rural people into something sacred and timeless. It just goes to show, art is always a conversation.