Liggende naakte vrouw 1900 - 1929

This is a small, intimate etching of a nude woman by Erich Wichmann. Look closely, and you can see the barest, most minimal marks creating the scene. It is like the artist is whispering in your ear. I can almost feel the warmth of the plate as the artist worked on it, wiping and layering ink, trying to get the line just so. Was he thinking of Matisse, or maybe Picasso? Those guys were always doing nudes. The line is delicate, tentative even, but it manages to convey so much with so little. It's like a quick sketch dashed off in a moment of inspiration, but there's also a sense of care and attention to detail. See how the hair flows across the pillow and her face? Wichmann is having a conversation with all the other artists who have ever tried to capture the human form, but he's also adding his own unique voice to the mix. It’s a reminder that art is always a dialogue, a back-and-forth between artists across time and space.