Editor’s Conservation with a Statesman 1907

Moriz Jung made this striking print, "Editor’s Conservation with a Statesman," sometime between 1885 and 1915. Look at the rhythmic lines carving out the negative space – it's like a wild dance of ribbons taking over the room. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving with the cutting tool, each line a deliberate yet spontaneous gesture. It is so suggestive! I imagine Jung, inking the block, pressing it onto paper, and hoping to capture some essence of the relationship between the two professions. The room feels crowded, chaotic, and full of hidden meanings. The figures loom like shadows. What are they doing? The editor seems to be ingesting the statesman’s words as if they were spaghetti. Maybe Jung wanted to highlight the absurdity of political discourse? Or to explore the power dynamics between those who create the news and those who make it? Regardless, the print is evidence of an embodied expression, embracing uncertainty, that makes it so alive.