Valdez, New Mexico 1946

Helen Green Blumenschein made this print of Valdez, New Mexico, and it’s just got such a wonderful balance between representation and, like, pure feeling. I can imagine her, you know, wrestling with the block, trying to get it just right. It's such a material thing, printmaking – that push and pull. The colors, too, feel really grounded. The yellows and greens, like the earth itself, and then that dark, moody indigo at the top. It’s like a storm is brewing, or maybe it’s just the cool mountain air. There's an echo of someone like Marsden Hartley here, that same directness and emotional punch. Painters, printmakers, we're all just talking to each other across time, riffing on the same themes, trying to get at something real. And that’s why something like this print can still hit you right in the gut, even now.