Stam van een boom 1873 - 1937

Curator: Well, if it isn't Coenraad Matthias Garms, presenting us with this little enigma of nature titled "Stam van een Boom," placing its creation somewhere between 1873 and 1937. Quite the spread! My gut tells me 'Stam van een Boom' roughly translates to “Tree Trunk.” It’s a linocut print if I'm not mistaken? It certainly has that stark, contrasting vibe about it. Editor: Intriguing... immediately I'm drawn to the composition. See how the trunk dominates the vertical space, yet the bare branches reach out, disrupting any sense of rigid formalism? Curator: Absolutely! It's as if Garms is showing us the bones of winter itself, the raw architecture of the woods, standing strong even when stripped bare. There’s a lot of focus on shape in this artwork, almost moving towards abstraction. Does the piece invoke feelings of loneliness for you? Because that’s how I am seeing it. Editor: Solitude, perhaps. But more than that, I sense a celebration of resilience, even stoicism. The deep blacks are incredibly important. They create the tonal structure. Look closely – Garms uses dense hatching to define the bark's texture, creating contrast to the smooth negative space of the sky. The image uses contrasting lines to guide your attention towards certain areas. Curator: Texture is such a delicious word to use, because I do sense how carefully and cleverly the artist creates a kind of tapestry through simple strokes. Also, I think this artist wants us to acknowledge not just the solitary figure of the tree but its deep roots in something. The shadows at the bottom certainly add to that feeling, it's an acknowledgment of hidden systems. It isn’t only standing on its own! It's part of a web. Editor: Yes, the root system grounds the entire piece. Semiotically, the tree becomes a signifier for life's enduring strength, reaching from the darkness below into the light, or… what light there is! The limited contrast keeps pulling me into the depths of its graphic detail. The lack of colors invites reflection on fundamental structures. Curator: "Fundamental structures"... That rings true, I agree. Makes you consider what other hidden fundamentals hold us all together, right? Garms gives us more than just a tree to gaze at; he gifts us a mirror into our own intertwined existence. Editor: Precisely! A potent image made even more compelling through its formal austerity. A powerful observation of nature, distilled through the meticulous labor of the printmaking process.