Nieuwjaarswens van E. Gaspar-Leidl c. 1920 - 1950

Editor: So, this graphic art piece, "Nieuwjaarswens van E. Gaspar-Leidl," is estimated to be from between 1920 and 1950. It appears to be a woodcut print, maybe even a New Year's card. There’s a figure pulling back what seems like a curtain to reveal a shining sun. It has a really hopeful, optimistic feeling. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes. It whispers of crisp winter air and the burgeoning promise held within the seemingly endless dark. The woodcut's stark lines, the contrast...it’s a visual metaphor, isn't it? The figure, small and perhaps vulnerable, drawing back the heavy cloak of the old year to unveil the brilliant, almost aggressively hopeful sun of the new. It’s quite primal. Like watching the sunrise for the first time. Editor: Primal, I like that. The limited colour palette also adds to that rawness, don't you think? But what about the plant-like shape right beside the sun? What could it represent? Curator: Hmm, good eye. Perhaps it's a young sapling, reaching for that very same sun? Symbolism layering upon symbolism. Rebirth. Renewal. And the fact that it's a New Year's greeting transforms it from mere aesthetic pleasure to a deeply personal invocation. A wish breathed onto paper, passed hand to hand. Almost holy, in its own small way. Do you get a sense of the artist’s emotion, even a century later? Editor: Absolutely! The vulnerability is striking. Like the artist is laying bare their hopes for the year. Curator: Indeed. Makes you consider your own hidden yearnings as well, doesn't it? Art, at its core, really just boils down to the echoes of our own experiences rippling across time. Editor: I agree. It definitely gives a fresh, contemplative perspective to the standard 'Happy New Year!'. Curator: To new perspectives then, and the audacity to yank open our own curtains, shall we?