In the Lobby 1929

Katharine Schlater made this monochrome woodcut, *In the Lobby*, sometime in the early to mid twentieth century, though the date is unknown. Look at the way that stark black and white describes space: the receding, checkered floor tiles; the faceless figures. It's all angular and kind of unsettling. I'm struck by the black triangle at the bottom left. It anchors the whole composition, doesn’t it? It's an odd shape, like a shadow, a void, or even a stage. This one block of black really creates a sense of depth, pulling you into the scene. The whole work reminds me of German Expressionist woodcuts, like something by Kirchner or Heckel. There's a real tension between representation and abstraction, between the literal and the suggestive. It reminds us that art is always an interpretation, a construction, and never a straightforward reflection of reality.