Madame Othon Friesz, La Marseillaise 1915

Amedeo Modigliani made this portrait of Madame Othon Friesz, La Marseillaise, using what looks like crayon and maybe some ink. See how Modigliani’s mark making is so simple, so elemental? It’s like he’s trying to get to the essence of form with as few lines as possible. The drawing has an unfinished quality. Look at the texture of the paper; you can see the tooth. In places the blue pigment bleeds, like tears. The paper is allowed to breathe, to be part of the drawing. There's so much space, it's like the figure is floating. The blankness makes you hyper-aware of the marks that are there. The double lines, the scratching. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, of course. A related sensibility, that idea of embracing the sketchy and the unresolved. Ultimately, it’s this vulnerability that makes the drawing so powerful. It is very much about the process, the art and the making, and not just about representing something.