Berlin: Stock Exchange (Die Börse) 1911

This print of the Berlin Stock Exchange was made by Gustav Kalhammer, who died very young, at just 33 years old. The print is small, a mere 9 x 14 cm, and was made using woodcut, a process in which an image is carved in relief on a block of wood. Kalhammer then likely used a press to transfer the image in ink onto paper. Because of the nature of the wood, the image has a graphic quality, and clean lines. Woodcut is a relatively accessible medium, and was historically associated with the production of popular images. Yet in the early 20th century, artists like Kalhammer deliberately returned to this process, which had largely been displaced by industrial printing techniques. We might speculate that in using it to depict the Stock Exchange, Kalhammer was commenting on the relationship between handcraft, labor, and capitalist structures. Despite the seeming simplicity of the print, the labor and ideas behind the image are not simple at all.