De Notenkraker, 26 januari 1907 / De Zedelijke Gemeenschap Possibly 1907

This is a print made in 1907 by Albert Hahn for "De Notenkraker," a Dutch satirical magazine; it's all about the power of the line, isn't it? You can almost see the artist mapping out his concerns in real-time. I imagine Hahn, bent over his table, using black ink to scratch and hatch the marks that build into form. He's pushing and pulling at the edges, trying to conjure up a world where the moral community is guarded by the forces of power. The way the figures are rendered is so particular, so weighted with a certain moodiness. Those dense, dark areas must have taken a while to build up. Hahn is like a choreographer, guiding our eye across the surface, making us consider the tensions and paradoxes of his political reality. It is like he is saying, "Here's what I see. What do you see?" Artists converse this way, through time, echoing each other's insights. And it's precisely this back-and-forth, this playful exchange, that keeps art vital.