Red Hollyhocks 1954

Werner Drewes made this print of Red Hollyhocks using a woodcut. The marks here are so present, like a diagram of the artist's movement! The black ink, the dark greens and reds of the flowers, make a beautiful contrast. Looking closely, you can see how the individual lines come together to create each form. See how the dark background is made up of these tiny, vertical lines? It's almost like Drewes wanted us to see the labor, the process, behind the image. It reminds me of Kandinsky, but with more of a graphic punch. It has that similar interest in simplification and abstraction, but a very different process. Both exploring the way color and form can communicate emotion. Like with Drewes, maybe the goal isn't to represent the flower perfectly, but to capture its essence, its energy, in a bold, graphic way.