Man in moestuin before 1931

Else Berg created this woodcut, "Man in Moestuin," depicting a man in a vegetable garden. Berg was a Jewish artist living in the Netherlands during a period defined by rising nationalism and antisemitism, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. The choice of the woodcut medium, with its stark contrasts, echoes the social polarizations of her time. The image features a man, possibly a self-portrait or a reflection of the everyday citizen, caught in the quiet act of tending a garden. This scene is deceptively simple. Considering the historical context, gardening becomes an act of resistance, a claim to normalcy and a connection to the land amidst dispossession. Berg's personal experience as a Jewish woman undoubtedly shaped her artistic vision. Her tragic death in Auschwitz underscores the vulnerability and precarity of identity during this era. The garden, in this light, symbolizes both a retreat and a quiet act of defiance against the encroaching darkness.