Intersection 1955

Jacob Kainen made this woodcut, "Intersection," in 1955, using the stark contrast between black ink and white paper to build a complex composition. It’s all about the push and pull of shapes, a real dance of positive and negative space. Look closely, and you can almost feel the artist carving away at the woodblock, each cut decisive and full of energy. The textures created by the gouges and marks in the wood add so much depth, making the image feel almost tactile. There’s one spot, on the left, with a totem-like figure, that really grabs my attention. It grounds the whole composition, and from there my eye is drawn across the print, taking in all the different viewpoints. Kainen was a fan of the German Expressionists, like Kirchner and Heckel, who also used woodcut printing to convey the disjointed experience of the modern world. You can see that shared interest here! Art is just an ongoing conversation.