Kalenderblad voor april tot en met juni 1935 1934

Jo Bezaan made this wood engraving, ‘Kalenderblad voor april tot en met juni 1935’, sometime during that year. You can imagine them carving away at the block, figuring out how to depict the thatched roofs and tree in simple shapes that the printing press can understand. What I find interesting is how the landscape hovers above the calendar, grounding the practical function of the page in something more poetic. There’s something deeply satisfying about the way they've depicted the leaves of the tree, like a dark cloud with white speckles. I wonder what it was like to live in a house like this, and whether Jo Bezaan was thinking about that as they were making it. It reminds me of other printmakers such as MC Escher, who were finding new ways to create images by embracing the qualities of mechanical reproduction. Ultimately, this humble calendar page testifies to the enduring power of images to connect us to the world.