And it Shall be Said in That Day c. 1934

Joseph Bolden made this print, And it Shall Be Said in That Day, and wow, what a title! I love the drama of the scene, which has a real sense of immediacy despite being rendered in black and white. I'm really drawn to the way he's built up the tonal range with all those little hatched marks. Look at the way he contrasts the smoothness of the figures with the scratchy textures of the landscape, almost like he’s sculpting with light and shadow. It makes everything feel so tactile. There's a real push and pull of focus, especially with the crowd of tiny people in the foreground. I can't help but think of Kathe Kollwitz, who was a master of the expressive potential of printmaking. There's a similar sense of social urgency, and an incredible handling of dark and light, but Bolden really makes it his own. It’s just so great to see an artist pushing the boundaries of a medium and making something completely new.