The Trial 1951

John Wilson made this lithograph, called 'The Trial' in 1949, and right away I’m struck by its starkness. It’s almost entirely in shades of gray, built up with tiny, precise marks. You can feel the pressure of the hand, the slow layering that creates these looming figures. Look at the way Wilson contrasts textures. The smooth, almost featureless back of the young man is set against the coarse, shadowed wood of the doorway, and the rough, almost caricatured faces of the figures above. It’s this area where the marks are most dense, creating a palpable sense of menace and judgement. Then there's the woman on the stairs, rendered softly, her form almost fading into the background. She's on the steps but her face looks like she has nowhere to go. Wilson's work reminds me a little of Kathe Kollwitz, in that he uses the graphic medium to explore themes of social injustice and human suffering. Art isn’t about easy answers; it's about making us feel, and question, and see the world in new ways.