Untitled

Untitled

Alfred Kubin

1923

graphite

From the collection of Museum of Modern Art

About this work

This sketch is all loose, scratchy lines on light paper. You can just make out a crowd of stick-figure people, some standing, some half-buried in the mess. Their faces are blobs with dots for eyes. The lines overlap everywhere—arms, legs, and clothes all tangled together like a storm of pencil marks. The artist didn’t smooth anything out. Every stroke looks hurried, like they were drawing fast, maybe even frustrated. The whole thing feels alive with movement, even though it’s just pencil. If you like this wild, sketchy style, look up cross-hatching.

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