Wife wakes up Chertokutsky 1905

Boris Kustodiev made this drawing, Wife wakes up Chertokutsky, using line and shading to capture a moment of domesticity. The way the artist uses line, especially in the woman’s dress, it almost feels like a scribble but then it becomes a very detailed fabric, a kind of organized chaos. This really gets at what art making is about, for me – a process of layering and finding form within apparent messiness. Look at the man slumped on the bed, his arm dangling – the lines here are looser, darker, creating a sense of depth and shadow. The surface of the paper is left bare in many places, which adds to the sketch-like quality, like we’re seeing a fleeting moment captured on the fly. This work is so honest and raw, it reminds me of some of Degas’ more intimate interior scenes. It's a conversation across time, each artist riffing on the other's ideas. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about questions and keeping the conversation going.