On the hand of the artist.

I found this online and took a minute to look at it and thought of the charcoal portraits I have at home. They were created by travelling portrait artists before the age of photography. I cannot pass them by without looking admiring the subtleties which they capture and I see a beauty in them that surpasses photography.

Am I showing my personal biases? Yes, I suppose so. And, I apologize to the photograpahic artists who read my blog.

I have enormous respect and appreciation for the works of Yousef Karsh, who I have featured on the blog. Most certainly - he was a supreme artist with a lens.

But yet....I am drawn like a moth to my small collection of charcoal portraits. They haunt me and give me a sense of immediacy both with the artist who drew them and to the subject they portrayed.