Composition with nude 1963

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this ink drawing of a nude, simply titled "Composition with nude", at some point in his life. The first thing that strikes me is the boldness of the line, confident and curvy like a Matisse. The drawing exists as both the contour of a figure and a flowing composition of shapes, blobs, and swirls. Look how the artist uses a single fluid line to define the forms of the breasts and hips, then contrasts this with the sharp angles of the mouth, echoing the fragmented style of Picasso. See that seemingly random line that cuts through the whole composition? Maybe it's a mistake, or maybe it's there to disrupt the image and add a little bit of chaos. Havrylenko's choice to embrace ambiguity is what makes this drawing so intriguing and keeps us guessing. Art, at its best, isn't about answers, it's about the questions it provokes.