Portuguese Woman 1940

James Lesesne Wells made this print, Portuguese Woman, using black ink on paper. Look closely, and you’ll notice the cross hatching—layers of tiny intersecting lines that create areas of dark and light. It's a process that demands patience and precision. You can see the evidence of his hand in every mark; the artist, present in the process. The composition has a quiet, domestic feel, yet the woman’s gaze is intense, directed somewhere beyond the picture plane. The table is laden with fruit, and through the window, a rural landscape unfolds. But it's the woman's expression that really captivates me. Is she contemplative, melancholic, or simply lost in thought? The beauty of art is that it doesn’t offer easy answers. This focus on everyday life and the dignity of the individual reminds me of the work of Jacob Lawrence, another artist who used a limited palette and bold forms to tell powerful stories about the Black experience. Like Lawrence, Wells invites us to look closely at the world around us, and to find beauty and meaning in the ordinary.