Kasperltheater 1907

Hans Kalmsteiner made this small, vibrant print called Kasperltheater. It's a scene, staged with crisp geometry, of a rabbit and a man holding sticks. I imagine him at work on this piece. What was his thinking? Was it precise calculation or intuitive gesture? He’s working with such a limited palette, and the marks are so reduced, almost like stencils. Look how the red of the man’s coat and the rabbit’s eye jumps out against the black ground. And those sticks—are they for defense or play? Maybe he saw painting as this kind of theater, too, where shapes and colors come together in unexpected ways. It reminds me of folksy traditions, but also anticipates some of the bold graphic styles we see later in the 20th century. Artists are always building on each other, whether they know it or not, and that's the fun of it.