The Trial 1951

John Wilson made this image, called "The Trial," in 1951. It’s all in shades of gray and black, and you can almost feel the artist carefully applying each line, building up the forms with cross-hatching. I’m thinking about the act of making something like this, the questions Wilson must have asked himself while drawing. What does it mean to be judged? What does justice look like? You can see the vulnerability of the figure facing his accusers, and the almost cartoonish faces of those who are judging him. There is a woman seated, slightly turned away from the scene, and I can’t help but wonder, who is she? What does she know? Wilson is in conversation with artists like Kathe Kollwitz, whose powerful prints also speak to human suffering. It's this call and response across time that keeps art alive.