Self-Portrait in Studio 1922

Max Pechstein made this self-portrait in 1922, and it's a woodcut. I love woodcuts - it's such a direct process and the contrast between the black ink and white paper is so immediate. Here, the image is carved with fairly deep gouges, which gives it a chunky, powerful feel. Look at the way Pechstein renders his own face: the lines are almost brutal, mapping out the planes and angles with a stark directness. And then you've got this almost dreamlike background with a female nude and a totem, maybe souvenirs of his time in Palau. That totem! With it's staring eyes and blocky body, the artist is evoking Oceanic art's power to connect us to something primal. Like Picasso, Pechstein is in conversation with art from around the world. The conversation between artists never ends, and that's why art continues to challenge and inspire us. It's less about having fixed answers and more about wrestling with ambiguity.