Portuguese Woman 1940

James Lesesne Wells created this print of a Portuguese Woman in black and white. Look at those marks! They evoke the atmosphere of a quiet interior, don’t they? The woman almost blends with her surroundings, becoming part of the texture of the place. I wonder what Wells was thinking about when he made this print. Was he trying to capture a moment of serenity, or was he more interested in the play of light and shadow? Did he know this woman? Did she sit for him? How did he build the composition from dark to light, from detail to less detail, to create the picture and make it breathe? I wonder, too, about the tools he used to create those lines. The texture creates this amazing space. I love how this print invites you to linger, to imagine stories, and to consider what it means to capture a moment in time through mark-making.