Melancholie 1914

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff made this woodcut, Melancholie, using stark black ink to carve out figures and forms. It’s all about the push and pull of carving, what's left and what's taken away. Look at the way the black ink defines the space. It’s not just outlining shapes; it’s building up the feeling, the mood, you know? The texture is rough, almost violent, like he’s digging into the wood to get at something raw. See how the lines around the figures are jagged and uneven. It gives the whole image a sense of unease, a kind of visual discomfort that mirrors the melancholy in the title. That single spot, just below the figure’s chin, looks like a tear, or a bead of sweat. It’s a tiny detail, but it brings the whole piece into focus. It reminds me a little of Käthe Kollwitz, who was grappling with similar themes of grief and social alienation at the time. But where Kollwitz is all about empathy, Schmidt-Rottluff feels more distanced, more about the sheer act of wrestling with the material to find some kind of truth.