Twee boomstammen 1892 - 1951

This is a woodcut called 'Twee boomstammen,' or 'Two Tree Trunks,' by Janus de Winter. It’s got this great graphic quality, this dance between black and white that really pops. You can see the hand of the artist in every mark, every little gouge that defines the bark. I imagine De Winter hunched over the block of wood, carefully carving away at the surface, letting the image emerge slowly, intuitively. What a commitment to take something away to make something! I bet he was thinking about the weight and presence of those trees, how they stand tall and sturdy against the world. There's a real physicality to the image, a sense of touch and texture. It's almost like he's inviting us to reach out and feel the roughness of the bark. I can feel a connection to other artists who've been drawn to the quiet majesty of trees, like the landscape painters of the Hudson River School. It’s like we're all part of this long conversation, passing ideas back and forth across time. And that's what makes art so exciting—it's always evolving, always pushing boundaries, always inviting us to see the world in new ways.