Hoofd van een vrouw 1913

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this small monochrome print, Head of a Woman, in Holland. It's all blacks and grays, and the marks feel etched, as if they’ve been dragged across the surface. It’s like he’s coaxing the image out of the dark. I wonder what Schelfhout was thinking, making this face. Did he know her? Was she a composite of many women? There's something kind of severe about the lines, the shadows are so deep! He simplifies the features, but not in a gentle way. The face is almost mask-like, flattened, like he’s trying to find the structure underneath the skin. There’s a vulnerability in the geometry. I imagine him experimenting, pushing the limits of representation, questioning what a portrait even means. It reminds me a bit of Paula Modersohn-Becker. Artists are always in dialogue with each other, even across time, trying to push painting into new territories. It's this uncertainty, this constant questioning, that makes art so alive.