Wisconsin Avenue 1932

This is Schomer Lichtner’s woodcut, Wisconsin Avenue, made with a monochrome palette and bold, graphic lines. It's less about depicting reality and more about feeling the pulse of urban life. You can tell that Lichtner knew how to make every cut count. Look at the way the negative space carves out the figures and buildings, it's all about that contrast, that push and pull. There's such drama in this print! The lines are so confident, so deliberate. It’s like each stroke is a little decision, a little experiment in light and shadow. I'm drawn to how Lichtner balances detail with simplicity, capturing the essence of a bustling city street with such minimal means. It reminds me a little of the German Expressionist woodcuts, like Kirchner or Heckel, but with a Midwestern twist. It's like Lichtner took their angst and replaced it with a kind of scrappy, American optimism. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation, always riffing on what came before.