Quincy, no.1 Possibly 1906

Augustus John made this tender portrait, “Quincy, no.1,” using etching, that is, fine lines engraved into a metal plate. I can almost feel the artist bending over the plate, peering closely as they coaxed these lines into being. There’s a real sense of looking, of seeing, like John was trying to figure something out about this child, Quincy, as they drew. Check out how he used layers of short, hatched lines to describe the form, the soft shadows on the face and hair. It makes me think about other artists like Rembrandt or Käthe Kollwitz, who also found so much expression in the humble medium of drawing. Every mark feels like a little question, a small search. Artists are always having a conversation across time, borrowing and stealing from one another, and transforming it all through their own unique lens. Painting and drawing let us look at the world in so many different ways.