Seated Woman 1970

Anton Refregier made this drawing, Seated Woman, using graphite on paper. The figure is built up using line. Lines that vary in weight and density. It is a powerful drawing. I can imagine Refregier working and reworking areas of the image, searching and feeling his way into being. I wonder what was going through his mind as he worked? Was he feeling somber, like the figure? Or was the act of drawing a way to move through his feelings? Check out the way he suggests the fall of light and shadow, and how the figure almost merges with the background, creating an atmosphere of introspection and quiet intensity. It reminds me a little bit of Käthe Kollwitz's drawings, you know, that focus on the weight of human experience. Artists are always in conversation across time, riffing on each other's ideas. Drawing and painting, just like writing, are all about ambiguity. The best works stay with you, letting you think and feel, long after you've seen them.