A Little Boy Lost 1920

Dorothy Lathrop made "A Little Boy Lost" with stark black ink on paper. The high contrast makes for a very graphic, almost dreamlike image. I find it interesting how Lathrop reduces detail to emphasize shape and the interplay between light and shadow, which is a process of subtraction, or distillation. The texture in the trees is where this process really comes into play. They're not just trees, they're feelings of trees. The eye jumps around within the monochrome, from the little boy sitting on the mound to the curious animal at the edge of the forest, and the overall effect creates a certain mood of unease and otherworldliness. Lathrop’s illustration style reminds me a little of Aubrey Beardsley, in that both use sinuous lines and stark contrasts, but I feel she’s tapping into something deeper, a raw nerve of emotion. It shows that art isn’t always about answers, it’s about exploring the space between what we know and what we feel.