Threshing c. 1940

LeRoy Dagobert Sauer made this print called 'Threshing' using, I imagine, a woodblock. There's such an attention to the mark-making, aren’t there? Every little line and stroke feels deliberate, like a tiny decision building up to the whole scene. You can almost feel the artist's hand carving away at the block, a real physical process. I love the contrast between the solid blacks and the stark whites, especially in the sky. See how those parallel lines create this vibrating, almost electric feeling? It's not just a sky; it's a charged atmosphere. And then you've got the haystacks, rendered with this beautiful density, these thick marks, that give them weight and texture. The tree on the left has these gnarly branches, each one distinct. It reminds me of the woodcuts of someone like Max Beckmann. It's like Sauer is saying, "I'm not just showing you a scene; I'm showing you how I see it, how I feel it." It’s that kind of personal touch that makes art so endlessly fascinating, isn't it?