Mother 1907

Magnus Enckell made this understated drawing, "Mother," with graphite, or maybe charcoal. Looking at the image, I imagine Enckell’s hand moving softly, tentatively across the paper. It’s like he’s feeling his way through a memory, a feeling. The subdued palette and gentle lines create an atmosphere of tenderness and introspection, don’t you think? The gray tonality gives the image a timeless quality, as if it could exist outside of a specific time or place. The lines feel provisional, like a first draft. The mother's gaze is downward, inward, a universal gesture of care. It's easy to project onto the artist here, to see him in conversation with other Nordic artists of the time, like Edvard Munch. Ultimately, artists work together through time, influencing and borrowing and building on what came before. We add our mark, and then we pass it on.