The Dreamer 1946

Ruth Lewin's woodcut print, 'The Dreamer', is a wild ride into the subconscious, made with bold black ink on a small, irregular sheet. I can imagine Ruth, armed with her carving tools, digging into that woodblock, each line a deliberate cut, a transfer of thought and emotion. The face in the center, with those big, staring eyes, feels like a mask, or maybe a portal to another world. The shapes crammed around it vibrate with energy – the zigzags, the little houses, the hovering shapes, all rendered in a stark black and white, really keep you from settling into a single idea. It reminds me of other artists who explored the dream world, like Max Ernst or Leonora Carrington, but Lewin brings her own raw, almost frantic energy to it. This is not a polite dream; it's a full-on, uncensored expression. These artists remind us that art is a conversation across time, a dialogue that keeps evolving as new voices join in. What can we learn from each other by giving space for ambiguity and change?