Old Woman 1935 - 1940

Arnold Peter Weisz-Kubínčan made this drawing of an old woman with pastels, maybe sometime in the 1930s. Look how the colours are so muted, almost like they’ve been aged by the sun. The strokes of pastel create a soft, hazy atmosphere around the figure, blurring the lines between her and the background. I wonder what Weisz-Kubínčan was thinking as he worked on this drawing. Was he trying to capture the weight of time, the weariness etched into her face, or the simple dignity of her presence? The way the pastel is applied, in these gentle, almost hesitant strokes, suggests a tender respect for his subject. The lines around her eyes and mouth are so delicate, conveying a sense of lived experience. I can feel him noticing and thinking, as I do when I’m drawing. It reminds me of other artists, like Käthe Kollwitz, who also found beauty and strength in the faces of ordinary people. Artists are always in conversation with each other, riffing on ideas and finding new ways to express old truths. For me, art is about embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, about finding meaning in the messiness of life.