Segelboote bei Grünau 1913

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this print of sailboats, somewhere near Grünau, using woodcut. I really love the surface of this print, and how the choppy marks describing the water and the sails of the boats are both really economic and sort of brutal. This print doesn't look like anyone labored over it. The marks are very direct, as if he cut straight into the wood and printed it right away. Look at the way the masts of the boats are defined by these long, sharp lines, with their reflections trailing below. The whole scene has been reduced to these slashing marks in black and white, with just the suggestion of colour: blue for the water, green for the trees. It's like he's saying everything we need is here, in these rough, quick gestures. Thinking about other artists who have that same kind of immediacy, maybe someone like Emil Nolde comes to mind? And of course the other artists in the Die Brücke group with Kirchner. Art isn't precious here, it's about attitude and process.