Procession 1919

František Drtikol made this drawing, Procession, with charcoal or graphite, sometime in the 20th century. I love the drama of the dark marks against the beige paper! I imagine Drtikol, standing at his easel, his hand moving deliberately, building up these cavernous walls. Look at the almost frantic marks around the small figures and the dark tunnel they are heading for! Maybe he wanted to convey their fear or anticipation. I can sense him leaning in, squinting, trying to capture a particular mood or atmosphere. For me, there’s an undeniable relationship between this and the expressionist woodcuts of his contemporaries. It is like he’s chipping away at our certainties. It makes you wonder, what’s at the end of the tunnel? This drawing is evidence of an artist in conversation with the anxieties of his time, grappling with uncertainty and change through form, line, and tone.