Jacob's Ladder 1924

Editor: So, this is Ernst Barlach’s woodcut print, "Jacob's Ladder," currently at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s intense! All that stark black and white, figures swirling…almost nightmarish. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Nightmarish, yes, but also deeply human. For me, Barlach captures the raw, primal struggle for connection, the yearning for something beyond our earthly existence. The ladder, of course, is the symbol, but look at the faces – the agony, the ecstasy, the sheer effort. Editor: It's hard to ignore all the emotion radiating from the figures. What does the woodcut medium mean to you? Curator: The starkness of woodcut echoes that struggle. It's unforgiving, direct. Barlach isn't smoothing things over; he's forcing us to confront the grit and the glory. Perhaps that's why it speaks so strongly, even now. Editor: I see what you mean. It’s definitely not a sugar-coated vision of spirituality. Something to think about. Curator: Indeed! Barlach’s Jacob’s Ladder is less about the destination, perhaps more about the climb itself.