A Mexican Rebecca 1912

Helen Hyde made this print, A Mexican Rebecca, sometime around the turn of the century using color woodcut. It's hard to make woodcuts! It's a slow process. Each color has to be carved out of a separate block. It's additive in a way that feels painstaking. The dusty rose color gives the scene such warmth, it practically smells of the desert. The eye is drawn to the woman's arms reaching out to exchange the pot, the negative space is like another object that’s shared. Look at the way Hyde articulates the plant hanging from the top left corner. It's so loose and gestural. It gives the whole piece a sense of movement, a liveliness that really makes it sing. It puts me in mind of Matisse’s prints from around the same time, the way he pared things down to their essence. It reminds me that art is a conversation across time and place, each artist borrowing, responding, and adding their own voice to the mix.