Cyclamen 1932

Grace Albee made this wood engraving, titled Cyclamen. The density of the marks that create tone and shadow is so beautiful. It’s almost like she's knitting with light and dark, turning a plant in a pot into this whole world of textures. What I love about working with prints is the directness; your hand and the block, and the image appears. It is a dance, or a wrestle. The way Albee uses the varying density of the marks to model the forms of the leaves, each leaf an individual universe, is a world in itself. It reminds me a little bit of the botanical drawings of someone like Maria Merian, but with a touch more grit. It’s amazing how much depth and feeling she gets with just black and white. And it's not just about precision; there's a real sensitivity in how she handles the light. Like any good drawing, it shows you how to see.