Portrait of J.P. (J. Patrelle) 1931

This etching was made by Jacques Villon in 1937 and it’s of J.P. Patrelle. Isn’t it something? I can imagine Villon working on the metal plate, dragging that needle across the surface again and again to build up these cross-hatched lines. He's carving out J.P.’s likeness, trying to get at something essential, right? It feels like he's not just depicting a face but mapping a whole interior world. And these aren't just any lines, they are active and create different tones. They create a sense of shadow and light flickering across J.P.’s face. I imagine Villon going back and forth, adding more lines, then maybe scraping some away to get it just right. I wonder if he was listening to music while he worked, maybe something melancholic. Villon, like many artists, was part of a conversation that stretches across time. They’re all riffing off each other, borrowing and inventing and challenging what came before. And that’s what art is, really – a constant back-and-forth, a conversation that never really ends.