Madame Le Brun and Daughter 1907

Timothy Cole made this image, Madame Le Brun and Daughter, sometime in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, using engraving. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, can't you? It's all about light and shadow. Look how Cole coaxes this scene into being through tiny marks. It's a real testament to the slow, deliberate process of engraving. The tonal gradations achieved are incredible, aren't they? See how it gives the image its depth? I'm drawn to the way Cole captures the folds and drapes of the clothing. Each line seems carefully placed. The way he models the faces, especially around the eyes, gives the sitters a real sense of presence and emotion. Thinking about how the Old Masters were reproduced and disseminated through printmaking makes me think about Vija Celmins and her approach to image making, how she embraces the process of building up an image layer by layer, bit by bit. It’s amazing how images like this continue to speak to us across time, right?