Arttu Reading 1909

This is a drawing from 1909, made by Pekka Halonen with graphite on paper. It's so free and easy, you can really see Halonen thinking through the marks. Look at the way the side of the face is described with tight hatching versus the loose, searching lines that suggest the form of the jacket. I think the drawing really comes alive with the contrast between these dense areas and the open space around them. It’s kind of a beautiful mess, a record of process, but also a finished image. I’m always interested in that tension. That patch of shadow right under the hair is so dark, it almost feels abstract. Then the lines start to unfurl as they move away from the face, like the drawing is breathing out. The whole thing reminds me a bit of Rodin's drawings, with their combination of observation and pure, unadulterated mark-making. In the end, it's a way of seeing and thinking, not just depicting.