Seated Woman (verso) 1966

Jacob Kainen made this drawing, Seated Woman, with what looks like graphite pencil on paper. I love how the artist has worked and reworked the lines to find the figure. You can see the traces of previous attempts, like ghostly echoes, as Kainen searches for the right form. It’s so vulnerable—you can really see the artist thinking. I wonder if he was trying to capture the essence of the sitter, or just the way the light fell across her body? There is something very intimate and immediate about drawing. It feels like a direct connection to the artist’s hand and mind. I can imagine Jacob Kainen in his studio, squinting at his model, and then quickly sketching what he sees. The quick marks describe the figure but also describe Kainen’s interest in the figure. It’s like we’re seeing his thought process in real-time.