The String Quartette 1935

Dorrit Black made "The String Quartette" as a color linocut, printed in a limited edition. The image is constructed from planes of color, characteristic of the Vorticist style, an avant-garde movement prominent in Britain in the 1910s. But the most striking thing about this print is the way that Black has allowed the linoleum itself to speak. The sharp edges and flat surfaces are a direct result of the way that linoleum accepts the blade of a carving tool. You really can’t get the same effect any other way. In the early 20th century, when Black made this print, linocut was considered an amateur activity, something more aligned with commercial art. The Expressionists were among the first to use woodcut, a related but more established medium, for radical artistic purposes. Black is doing something similar here, taking a humble material, and showing its potential for refinement and aesthetic impact. Ultimately, this work reminds us of the value of exploring the inherent qualities of materials, and how such exploration can challenge our assumptions about art itself.