Naar de markt 1927

Fré Cohen created this print called, "Naar de markt" using a woodcut technique. You know, woodcut is all about the cut, the gouge, the mark you make with a tool. It's a physical process, carving away to reveal an image. Look at the lines Cohen made, they aren't just lines, they build the forms and shadows. See the way the light seems to pour in from the windows, that's all built with the marks. And the dress on the woman, you can almost feel the weight and texture of it, just from how the lines are layered. It's really clever. Woodcut for me is like, it's not just about the final image, but about the labor and the care that goes into making something. You can see that here, in every stroke. There's a relationship to early German Expressionist printmakers, like Kathe Kollwitz, who used woodcut in a very similar way. It really highlights this artform as an ongoing visual conversation.