Nieuwjaarswens van Ella 1932

Kornél Révész made this print, Nieuwjaarswens van Ella, with ink on paper. I'm immediately drawn to the hand-drawn quality of the lines and shading. I can imagine Révész bent over a table, carefully etching each tiny stroke with a needle on a plate and, of course, making a mess! The little girl with her bag and ribbon and the note are sweet. But I wonder, what was Révész thinking when he made it? Maybe about all the parents, hoping for a good year to come, which makes me think of other printmakers like Käthe Kollwitz, who captured the struggles and hopes of everyday people. They all leave traces of human stories in the texture of their work. In a way, artists are always in conversation. They're always riffing on each other's ideas, responding to the world around them. That is what keeps the artistic conversation vibrant and alive.