Altenberg (Ertsgebergte) 1923

This is Leo Gestel’s print, Altenberg, Ertsgebergte, made sometime in the early 20th Century. It's all about the contrasts, isn't it? Dark and light, rough and smooth. Gestel uses these bold, almost aggressive marks to build up the image. The hatching on the roofs of those squat buildings is like a dense thicket, scratchy and uneven. You can almost feel the weight of the ink, pressed into the paper. And then, look at the sky – those swirling, almost manic lines that suggest both movement and maybe a little bit of turmoil. It makes me think of Emil Nolde who used a similar approach to print making. It’s raw, immediate. And it feels like he’s wrestling with the image, trying to capture not just what he sees, but what he feels. Which makes it feel like a very real place, like it's not just a pretty picture, it's a document, a testament, to a way of seeing. Gestel isn't interested in giving us easy answers or pretty landscapes. He's showing us the world as he sees it, raw, complex, and full of contradictions.