Monsieur Fournier Sarlovèze, Member of the French Chamber of Deputies 1922

Walter Tittle made this portrait of Monsieur Fournier Sarlovèze using an etching technique. There's a real immediacy to the line work, it feels like you can see the artist thinking as he's making marks. Look at the hatching around the face, the tiny variations in pressure and angle. See how these marks build up to create tone and texture. You get a real sense of the paper, its grain and how it takes the ink. All of this contributes to the feeling of the image. I love the way Tittle uses the bare minimum of lines to suggest form, he’s almost daring you to fill in the gaps, especially in the suit. It makes me think of other printmakers, like Whistler, who were so good at capturing a likeness with such economy. Ultimately, artmaking is always a conversation, it’s about looking and responding, that is the way we keep things fresh.