Thursday, September 8

movement and force

Every good engraving is made up of original, confident, complete, assured movements. Line then carries mass along with it; it propels movement, stirs matter, and gives each form its strength, impetus and dynamic nature... every engraving bears witness to a certain force...

Indeed, the engraver enables us to rediscover values of force in exactly the way that the painter shows us the values of light. These values of force lie in the hard-won relief, won with the humble means of black and white, and in forms that overflow with movement eager to break out.

-- Gaston Bachelard The Right to Dream
Translated by J.A. Underwood