Winter 1902

Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva made this print, “Winter”, using monochrome ink. It feels like she’s using the marks to build a picture from scratch. There’s this wonderful tension between the dark, scratchy lines and the bright, empty spaces. It’s stark, for sure, but look closer. The little lines she uses to define the trees, they’re almost dancing. The composition is deceptive. At first glance, you see a fairly conventional landscape. But the more you look, the more you realize it’s all about the surface, the ink, and how it meets the paper. See the way the grass in the foreground is all these quick, almost frantic strokes? They’re not just grass; they’re a way of describing the feeling of winter. It reminds me of some of the German Expressionist printmakers, like Kirchner, who were also using woodcuts to get at something raw and emotional. In the end, this is art that isn’t about showing us winter but about making it.