Monticelli 1969

This is Leonard Baskin's print, Monticelli, and it’s just lines, baby, lines! Look at the way he’s scratched and coaxed the image into being. I can imagine him working the plate, leaning in close. There’s a real physicality here – you can almost feel the pressure of the tool in his hand, the way he dug into the surface to conjure this brooding profile. Is Monticelli emerging or dissolving? Baskin teases a portrait out of chaotic marks. A whole history of portraiture – think Rembrandt, think Goya – seems to be bubbling beneath the surface. These artists were all in conversation, wrestling with the same questions about how to capture a likeness, a feeling, a soul. And maybe that’s what Baskin is doing here, not just drawing a face, but evoking the spirit of a painter from the past. It’s like he’s saying, "We're all in this together," reaching across time to connect with another artist.