Intercepted 1941

Isac Friedlander's woodcut print, Intercepted, probably made in 1941, is full of so much feeling. Just look at all the different shapes that he's used to describe the sea, the sky, and the bodies, all pressed together. I can imagine him thinking of how to convey this scene, how to make the expressions legible, how to use the grain of the wood to direct our eyes across the surface. Maybe he wanted to pull us right into the heart of this boat, a boat carrying all these huddled figures away. Notice the strong diagonals and the areas of dark and light, they guide us from the front of the boat, up and around all the people. I am reminded of Kathe Kollwitz, also a printmaker, both of them trying to record what it is like to be alive, what it is like to suffer. Isn't it a miracle that artists keep looking, keep trying to make sense of the world?