The Lumber Schooner 1958

Stow Wengenroth's print shows us a lumber schooner, composed with lithographic ink on paper. Framing the open sea with the dark, enveloping forest, the artist evokes a primal dichotomy. The forest, with its ancient trees, has long been a place of refuge and mystery. This representation mirrors the symbolic forest depicted in the woodcuts of the Renaissance, a space of transformation and the unknown, such as the forest in the tale of Hansel and Gretel. But, the ship at sea also resonates deeply. Across cultures, the ship symbolizes a journey, a quest for something beyond the known. Like the mythical ships carrying souls to the afterlife, the schooner here bridges the gap between the tangible and the intangible. It prompts us to contemplate our own paths, our own searches for meaning. The schooner represents the eternal human desire to navigate the unpredictable waters of life, a journey as old as time itself.