Alexander Reid

Alexander Reid had a knack for catching actors mid-emotion, the kind of guy who’d linger backstage after a show just to sketch the sweat and fury on a face. His prints of Macready’s Brutus still feel alive in a way most portrait prints don’t—every etched line looks like it could twitch. Hunt down his Brutus portraits in the British Museum’s prints room; the way the ink flares around the eyes makes you lean in like you’re sharing a secret with the sitter.