Design for fine art print, ‘The Mad Dancer’.] [Original study for woodcut print 1910

Winold Reiss made this study for a woodcut print called 'The Mad Dancer' with ink, probably in the early part of the 20th century. The whole image is structured around bold contrasts, a dance of black ink against the white paper. It's like the design is fighting to escape its own outlines. Look at the way the dancer's body is rendered with flat, dark shapes. It's almost brutal, but then you notice these little details, like the patterns in the field of flowers and the cross-hatching on the dancers hat, they soften the whole image. The purple strokes feel so unexpected, a wild splash of color amid all the monochrome, they lead your eye upwards into the background where the city rises up. This is a woodcut design, so this splash of purple suggests that Reiss was already thinking about colour combinations and the interplay between the elements. Reiss was part of the modernist movement, which embraced experimentation. I think of other artists of the time, like Kirchner, whose prints used similarly bold lines and emotionally charged themes. 'The Mad Dancer' isn't about perfection; it's about capturing a feeling, a mood. It’s about the energy of a single moment.