Athênê (Athena) 1932

This is Georges Braque’s “Athênê (Athena)” made with a lithographic technique. Notice how the lines wiggle and roam, like the stream-of-consciousness of artmaking, which for me is all about process! Braque isn’t trying to trick you into seeing a perfect horse; instead, he sets up the idea of a horse with all these flat shapes, brown lines, and grey forms. Look at the way the horse rears up, it has an almost violent energy, which is contrasted with this soft, muted palette. I love the way the lithographic printing process allows for a sense of texture, a certain graininess, in the grey areas, while the brown lines are crisp and defined. The whole image exists on a plane, but also feels like it might fall apart at any moment. Braque was always in dialogue with Picasso, and you see that here, but he was also talking to the Old Masters, riffing off their ideas about composition and form. Ultimately, art thrives in these conversations, these ambiguous spaces between fixed ideas.