Untitled (Sailboats) 1923

This is an untitled black ink woodcut print of sailboats and houses by George Josimovich, made in 1923. The high contrast between the dark ink and the off-white paper lends the piece a stark, graphic quality, but it's also full of movement. The marks are crisp and deliberate, each line carefully considered to build depth and form. Look at the lower left corner, at the concentric lines suggesting a rise in the ground. They ripple outwards in a way that feels both controlled and organic, almost as if they were created by a geological process. There's something almost architectural about the way Josimovich uses line and shape. The artist creates a sense of space and perspective through simple geometric forms. The sailboats, houses, and even the sky, are all constructed from sharp angles and planes. It makes me think of Cubism, how artists like Picasso and Braque broke down objects into their basic forms to create a new kind of visual language. It’s a conversation across time about how we see and interpret the world around us.