The Sea of the Discarded 1935

Carl Hoeckner made this lithograph, "The Sea of the Discarded," sometime in the 20th century, using black ink on paper. Can you feel the weight of the ink on that paper, like layers of sediment? It’s as if these huddled figures have emerged from the earth itself. I can imagine Hoeckner hunched over the lithographic stone, pushing the ink to conjure these lost souls, each mark deliberate, each line a whisper of suffering. Look at the figure in the foreground, eyes raised, a silent scream etched on their face. What did Hoeckner want us to see? The piece reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz’s prints, sharing that same raw intensity and unflinching gaze at human suffering. It makes you wonder about the conversations these artists might have had, across time and place, about how to bear witness through art. Ultimately it feels like a reminder that art can be a powerful act of empathy, a way to connect with those who are often unseen, unheard.