Emile Verhaeren 1921

This is Frans Masereel’s stark portrait of Emile Verhaeren, and it's made with graphic woodcuts. I imagine Masereel standing at his workbench, carving away at the block with chisels. I really feel for any artist when they make portraits. I wonder, did Masereel have a photo, or was the writer right there? How long did he look at Verhaeren? Do you try to show someone how they are, or how you see them? Is it even possible to separate those things? Look at those lines, how they become hair, beard, eyebrows. And how they make up the shadows on the face. You can feel him wanting to show the writer's dynamism, the way his mind worked, the world that he lived in. To do that he made sure the woodcut showed the city behind him, the sun, a train perhaps. The image is a meeting of the minds. Just like we're doing right now.