Double Portrait of Nel and Henk Wiegersma 1930

Ossip Zadkine made this sculpture, *Double Portrait of Nel and Henk Wiegersma,* with bronze. You know, right away it's so clear how the artist has worked this material, the way the tool marks are visible on the surface. I imagine Zadkine working on this sculpture, and how the bronze has been layered, scraped, and molded to create these two figures in an embrace. One is so much more figurative than the other. I wonder, was he in love with Nel? There is so much more definition to her face. The artist seemed to have a clear sense of the sitter’s inner life and outer appearance. Meanwhile, the other is almost ghostlike, like an apparition. I can sense a push-pull between the inner desire to represent these two figures and the outward manifestation. The textures on the surface create a depth and dynamism that draws me in. It's like Zadkine is having a conversation with other artists, a dialogue across time and space about form, representation, and feeling.