Slang met herten 1922

This is "Slang met herten" or "Snake with Deer" by Johannes Frederik Engelbert ten Klooster, made through a woodcut printmaking technique. The stark contrast between black and white isn't just aesthetic, it's baked into the process. The artist would have painstakingly carved away areas of a wood block, leaving a raised design. This remaining surface would be inked and then pressed onto paper. What we see here is a record of that action, a translation of the artist's labor. The image is simplified and stylized, which is typical for woodcuts. This process involves the artist's hand directly, but it also allows for multiples to be produced fairly easily, which democratizes the image by allowing for greater distribution. The high level of contrasts, the stark appearance and the manual labour involved with its production remind us that even prints are more than just reproducible images; they're material objects with a history of making embedded within them.