Saint Francis - The Fields 1953

Benton Spruance made this lithograph, Saint Francis - The Fields, and it's a real trip, right? It's like he’s wrestling with light and dark, trying to make them play nice on the paper. The colors are earthy and a bit off, like a memory fading at the edges, and the marks feel raw, like he's scratching at the surface to find something underneath. Look at the way the ink is laid down, especially around the figures. It’s thick in some spots, thin in others, almost like a watercolor wash. You can practically feel the hand that made it, the pressure and release as he worked the stone. I love how the figure’s eyes seem to follow you, even though they’re just a few lines and some shading. It’s not perfect, but that's the beauty of it. Spruance reminds me a bit of Emil Nolde, that German Expressionist painter, in the way he uses color to create mood. Both of them are after something more than just a pretty picture. They want to stir something up inside you. This piece is a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be neat and tidy; sometimes, the mess is where the magic happens.