Semi-Abstract Black and White Drawing by Lorraine Ginsburg

Lorraine Ginsburg was an insightful and prolific artist, born in the Bronx in 1929. She passed away in 2020.
She experimented extensively, playing with abstract forms or executing multiple studies of a model in charcoal or pencil. Her work was primarily paintings and drawings but also includes several sculptures and mixed media art pieces.

This drawing, dated 2000 and signed, shows the artist's skill in composition, sharpened by years of observations, deepening, and studying, ingeniously blending representation and abstraction to activate a space for reflection within the viewer.
The use of charcoal to create dark lines and flat areas of black, grey, and white ineffably adds depth of drama to the atmosphere of this semi-abstract drawing.
There is for sure in this work the idea of our duality, two complementary and opposite aspects in us, such as the sweetness of childhood and the violence of adult life, joy and pain, good and evil, light and dark, conscious and unconscious, etc…
Lorraine incorporates a mysterious figure into the drawing. The figure stands behind a larger white form, which could represent the invasive presence of death in her life. This may include the departure of her husband and daughter, as well as her own battle with ovarian cancer - a slow and gradual process of decay. The white form seems to grow like an ectoplasm, transforming cells in its path into something that no longer belongs to the land of the living. In the background, there are stylized, black forms that could be interpreted as a grid or even gaol bars.

In her last years of life, Lorraine Ginsburg's art exemplified perfectly the subtle usage of flawless figuration and skilful employment of abstraction to revolutionise our approach towards interpretation in a metaphysical dialogue with ourselves.

REFERENCE NUMBER: LU654311940982
PERIOD: 2000-2009
CONDITION: Excellent
MEASUREMENTS: Height: 29.25" Width: 24.25" Depth: 0.5"
COUNT: 1
MATERIAL: Charcoal, Pastel
CREATOR: Lorraine Ginsburg