Untitled (War) c. 1938

Julio De Diego made this moving print, Untitled (War), using stark black ink on paper, and the process itself seems to mirror the urgency of the subject matter. The contrast is so intense that it heightens the emotional weight of the scene. Look at the way the artist uses bold, graphic lines to depict the sky, almost clawing at the figures below. The texture feels rough, almost violently cut into the block, mirroring the raw anxiety etched on the faces of the mother and children. Her hands are enormous, protective, but also skeletal, and the planes above feel like they are closing in on the figures, each bold line a sign of the impending disaster. This piece has a similar sense of foreboding found in some of Kathe Kollwitz's prints, especially in their shared focus on the human cost of conflict, where simplified forms and emotionally charged compositions speak volumes about the trauma of war.