Head (Tête) 1951

Pierre Alechinsky made this etching called "Head," or "Tête" in French, where the needle scratches lines of the would-be face onto a metal plate. I can almost see Alechinsky in his studio, bending over the plate, incising into it with his tool and the sheer force of his imagination! He's really working the surface, going in and out, building up this oval form. It’s not about representation, right? More about how a head can emerge from a series of very physical, felt gestures, and how those gestures accumulate meaning. The criss-crossing lines create texture, but also a sense of the head being trapped, confined. You know, printmaking is like a conversation with all the other printmakers in history; each impression is a moment in that dialogue, and Alechinsky is in there contributing his own quirky thoughts on the human condition! His piece embodies the spirit of experimentation, inviting us to see the world through a shifting, evolving lens.