Pilgrems 1952 - 1964

Shirley Witebsky made "Pilgrims," a print, sometime between 1925 and 1966, using an image of 300 by 390 mm and a sheet of 406 by 502 mm. It's like she's set up a stage for us, a ground to walk on. Look at how the translucent colours overlap, pinks and blues that create another purple hue, with thin black lines weaving in and out, tying it all together. It's like she's thinking through process. There’s a real energy in the way she makes marks; not too chaotic, but definitely not rigid. You can see the shapes are soft-edged, like blobs of color. And what about that dense scribble around the top, see how it pulls the composition upwards? Witebsky’s work kind of reminds me of Joan Miró, playful and deceptively simple. "Pilgrims" is like a conversation, a playful exchange of shapes and forms that invite us to wander.