Still-Life 1945

Curator: This woodcut print, created by Harry Shoulberg in 1945, is titled "Still-Life." Editor: Oh, I love it. There’s this kind of naive joy in the colours, a comforting clumsiness in the composition that almost feels like a hug from a bygone era. Curator: It is interesting how the woodcut medium here reinforces that perceived sense of naivete; a mass production process is employed, but that visible labor leaves its traces. We’re clearly seeing the material conditions of its creation, from the paper and ink used to the artist's mark from carving into the block. Editor: Yes! And look how the woodcut lends itself to simplified forms – flowers are just these charming blobs of colour. The colour palette has a nostalgic charm, as if viewed through old lenses or the filter of time, and the slightly mismatched arrangement of the flowers in their glass vase gives a whimsical touch, doesn’t it? It feels deliberately, endearingly wonky. Curator: The apparent "wonkiness," as you put it, speaks to an embrace of the materials. See how he uses blocks of unblended colors instead of chasing any hyperrealistic form. But for all the print’s directness, note how the arrangement of object and even their placing behind the abstracted framed picture gives depth, suggesting space beyond the tabletop. Editor: I think, ultimately, this piece whispers stories about how everyday beauty endures—a lovely vignette celebrating simple, unpretentious joys. Like picking the last flowers of the summer! Curator: Right. When considered through the lens of artistic production, it’s striking how a print created by carving material—wood—becomes an assertion of human touch in what was a rapidly industrializing world. Editor: A world away from us! Well, I will never see prints the same way again. Curator: Me neither! Thank you for your reflections.