Rabindranath Tagore 1920

This is Muirhead Bone’s delicate etching of Rabindranath Tagore. Look at the way he's built up the image through a network of fine lines, like he’s spinning a web of light and shadow. You can almost feel the artist feeling his way through the image, one line at a time. The whole thing is so ethereal, isn’t it? The lines are so fine, so delicate, they barely leave a trace on the paper. But somehow, Bone coaxes a whole world out of them. It’s all about the subtle shifts in tone, the way the light catches on Tagore's face and beard, and the way the shadows pool in the folds of his robe. It's all just *there*, rendered with such care. It reminds me a little of the drawings of Agnes Martin – that same sense of quiet, meditative observation. But where Martin is all about abstraction, Bone is rooted in the world, in the specific details of this man's face and form. It’s a beautiful example of how art can be both grounded and transcendent at the same time.