Frontispiece for "l'affaire Clémenceau" 1905

Paul-Albert Besnard made this etching, the Frontispiece for "l'affaire Clémenceau", and you can see how he’s really working the plate, digging into it, making a whole range of marks. The image presents a seated man, perhaps in the act of reading or writing, looming over a reclining nude figure. It’s the kind of contrast that makes you stop and think, and the marks themselves are like little thoughts, scratched into the surface. Look at the way the lines cluster and diverge, creating shadow and depth. There is a tactile quality to the hatching technique used, creating depth and texture through the density and direction of lines. I’m reminded of Käthe Kollwitz, who also knew how to make an etching speak volumes about the human condition. In the end, art is always a conversation, across time, across mediums, about what it means to be human, to see, to feel.