Woman at the Water 1918

Maria Uhden created this woodcut, Woman at the Water, using stark black ink on paper. The image depicts a nude woman seated in water, near a deer who drinks from the same source. Uhden was associated with the German Expressionists, an avant-garde movement active in the early 20th century. These artists often worked in a deliberately simplified style, in part to express primal emotions. But this turn to simplified forms was also due to an interest in non-western art. As colonial empires expanded in the late 19th century, European artists became aware of Japanese prints and African sculpture. Many believed that the so-called primitive arts held the key to more authentic forms of expression than those available in Western academic traditions. Art historians often study such sources to fully understand an image like this. We can see how Uhden's woodcut reflects both a progressive social outlook and a self-conscious critique of the Western art establishment. The meaning of her image, like all art, is dependent on its social and institutional context.