Dju-dju figures West Africa 1932

This print, Dju-dju figures West Africa, was made by Reijer Stolk. I wonder what he was thinking when he put all these images together. It looks like he made an etching of a collage of images all borrowed from the visual culture of West Africa. He's included snakes, crocodiles, birds, and human figures. The figures are very still but the animals seem more animated, so I get a sense of Stolk moving across different cultural registers. I think it's interesting to consider how an artist absorbs imagery from other cultures and integrates it into their own artistic language. It makes me think of Picasso and Matisse who were both inspired by African art. It's like a cross-cultural conversation, where artists respond to and build upon each other's ideas.