Frontispiece 1957 - 1961

Anatoli Kaplan made this frontispiece, a print, with marks that feel almost like whispers on the page. The buildings, people, the whole scene, emerge from a sea of tiny dots and dashes, like a memory trying to surface. Up close, you can see how Kaplan's built this world with such care, the density of the marks creating depth, shadow, and a sense of lived-in space. I’m drawn to the way the buildings cascade down the hill, each one rendered with just enough detail to suggest a story. Looking at the figures in the foreground, they seem caught in a moment of contemplation, their faces etched with a kind of quiet knowing. It reminds me a little of the way Käthe Kollwitz used lithography to convey such deep emotion and human connection. Art's not about answers, it's about the questions we ask.