Front Range c. 1945

Barbara Lucile Maples made this woodcut print, Front Range, sometime in the 20th century. I love the way she’s layered these blocks of greens, reds and browns to build up the mountain range. You can really see the process! There's something about the texture of the print that gets me, those flat planes of color overlapping to create depth, they aren't trying to trick you, but the repetition in each layer gives the image a really cool rhythm. Look at how the strokes become shorter near the top of the mountain and longer in the foreground, mimicking the way the land rises and falls. Each mark feels deliberate, like she's carving out the essence of the mountain. I'm reminded of the prints of Gustave Baumann, who also used woodcuts to capture the American landscape, but Maples has this more raw and direct way of working, embracing the imperfections of the medium. Art is just one conversation between artists and their materials, a constant back and forth, right?