Zeelt 1917

This is Jan Mankes’ "Zeelt," a wood engraving. The stark contrast, black and white, it’s like a dance of light and shadow, a real push and pull. You can almost feel the texture, right? The tiny dots on the fish, those delicate lines that create the plants in the water, it's like he's etching a whole world into being. Look at the way the light catches the scales, each one is a tiny universe in itself, all done with such simple tools. It’s like looking into a secret underwater realm. That dark background is so important to the image as a whole, it really holds the image within it. Mankes, with his quiet intensity, reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, you know? That same attention to detail, a whisper of something profound in the everyday. In the end, it's like art is a conversation across time, an endless exchange of glances and gestures.