Male Nudes Wrestling 1912

John Singer Sargent made this drawing of two male nudes wrestling with what looks like charcoal, maybe, or a soft pencil. It’s this very alive sketch of these two figures, intertwined and straining, that feels like it emerged through a process of trying, failing, and intuitively finding a new path. I can only imagine the effort of capturing such a dynamic scene, trying to pin down the shifting forms and energy of the wrestlers. Did he draw it from life? From memory? From another image? You can almost feel Sargent’s hand moving across the paper, searching for the right lines to convey the tension and weight of their bodies. The sketchiness adds to the feeling of the figures in motion. I love how artists are always talking to each other, across time, inspiring each other's creativity. For me, painting is about being embodied, it's expression. It embraces not knowing, allowing many ways of seeing and feeling over just one.