The Gull Hunter 1913

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this woodcut, The Gull Hunter, and you can see how he was going for it. It's all there in the stark black and white contrasts; the carving into the wood is so immediate, so physical. The process becomes the point. Just look at the hatching on the lower left, it gives you a sense of the mark-making, the back-and-forth of the knife. You can feel the artist thinking, and rethinking. What I love about it is that it's a bit of a mess, an exciting mess, a glorious mess. The figure feels cornered, claustrophobic, even. The jagged, angular shapes and the stark contrast create a sense of unease. It reminds me a little of Munch’s work, in the way that it captures a raw, visceral emotion. With Kirchner, like with all great artists, it’s about the conversation between them all. None of it exists in a vacuum, you know? It’s all just one big, beautiful, messy, human conversation.