L'Etoile De Cobi. Mongole 1951

This is Paul Jacoulet’s ‘L’Etoile De Cobi. Mongole’, a print made sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. The detail is remarkable and kind of obsessive. It makes me think about how an artist’s hand can create a whole world from tiny gestures. The colors are intense, but the woman is lost in thought. There’s a tension there, the way the patterns compete with her stillness. Look at the swirling patterns on her sleeve, a kind of floral galaxy rendered in blues and blacks. It's like Jacoulet is trying to capture something beyond just the surface. You can almost feel the texture of the paper and ink. The way he repeats shapes and motifs reminds me of Hilma af Klint, both artists seem to be chasing after something mystical through visual form. I wonder what it was that made them want to capture it and show it to the rest of us? Art is just a conversation with yourself, carried out in public, I think.