Zittende man 1918 - 1919

Maurits de Groot made this woodcut, called 'Zittende man', sometime between 1900 and 1934. The man sits, hunched over with gnarled hands. The white of the page becomes a stark and brutal contrast to the black ink, abstracting the image into shapes. Look at the angular strokes that suggest the planes of his face. I imagine de Groot attacking the block with his tools, carving away at the wood with rapid, decisive cuts. The shapes are so loaded with feeling. What was he thinking as he made this? Was he thinking about the German Expressionists and their emotionally charged prints? I keep coming back to the hands. They are so vulnerable and exposed; they speak of labor, age, and perhaps even suffering. It reminds me of the kind of conversations artists have with each other, across decades and movements, echoing and responding to the human condition. This print, with its somber mood and simplified forms, embodies a search for meaning in the everyday. It reminds us that art-making is always a form of embodied expression.