Paarden 1919

Mommie Schwarz made this print, Paarden, with black ink on paper. It's a study in contrasts, in the boldest way. The shapes, though representational, are pared down, like language stripped to its barest essentials. The horses emerge from the background as blocks of colour and negative space, their forms interlocking like pieces of a puzzle. Look closely, and you can see the grain of the wood from which the block was carved, giving a tangible presence to the image. The raw physicality of the printmaking process is evident in the crisp lines and textured surfaces. The scratches and marks give the image a graphic quality. Schwarz shares sensibilities with German Expressionist artists, particularly in the simplification of form. There's something raw and immediate in the graphic language, a dialogue of shapes that gives the viewer a feeling of the materiality of the image.