The Fox and the Crow 1950

Antonio Frasconi made this woodcut print, "The Fox and the Crow," with what looks like fairly simple tools. The forms are cut and blocky, and the image is printed in black ink. It's a pretty visceral thing - you can feel the push and pull of the blade through the wood in every line. The texture of the wood grain itself becomes part of the image. Look at the fox’s body, for example, it has a solid mass to it, but then there are these scratchy, irregular marks around the edges where the background has been carved away, making the animal feel like it’s emerging from the darkness. It gives the whole scene a kind of raw, almost frenzied energy. There’s something very direct about Frasconi’s approach, similar to someone like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who also used woodcut to express deep emotion. Both artists remind us that art isn’t just about pretty pictures - it’s a way of grappling with the world, in all its messiness and complexity.