On the Volga 1926

Boris Kustodiev made this print, ‘On the Volga’, using stark black ink to capture a river scene. I wonder, what was it like to carve the image in reverse onto a block? He would have planned the composition carefully. Look how light floods the sky, bursting through the clouds like theatrical spotlights. Then there's the calm water, a simple boat in the foreground, and a building on the hillside. All rendered in these intense blacks and whites. The artist contrasts the rough hewn hillside with the calm lines of the river. The scene feels so Russian. The confidence of the lines, the way the image is cropped, suggests a culture proud of its landscape and the people who live and work there. I think all artists are in conversation with each other, each generation inspired by what has come before and what is happening in their own time. The way the artist has embraced the starkness of the medium has echoes in some German Expressionist prints of the time. It’s like they're all thinking: how can we make this image as powerful as possible?