Woman and flower 1930

Mikuláš Galanda made this drawing of a woman and a flower, using ink, with the marks on the page mapping out a sensitive relationship. It's all about the push and pull of the hand, isn't it? The stark black ink defines the soft curves of the woman’s body, juxtaposed with the geometric vase and stylized flower. There's a real tension here between line and form, abstraction and representation. The dark hatching that creates the upper part of the figure really emphasizes the flatness of the picture plane. Look at how the delicate lines create both form and shadow, suggesting depth while also reminding us of the drawing's inherent two-dimensionality. This piece reminds me a little of Matisse, actually, both in its elegance and its economy. It's a conversation, this art thing, constantly folding back and forth on itself. It embraces ambiguity, and maybe that's where its power lies, huh?