The Parish Hall 1937

Dorrit Black made this print of The Parish Hall with blocks, probably wood blocks. I love trying to imagine how she constructed this image, piece by piece. There's something about the solid flatness of this print, that makes me think of early modernist painters like Léger. There's also a touch of Cezanne in the way she builds up the forms of the buildings with small marks. I love the colours she has used and the way the light and shadow give shape to the solid forms. It feels like she’s celebrating the beauty of simple geometric forms and the everyday buildings that surround her. It feels so grounded and honest. Black was part of a generation of artists who were trying to create a new visual language. They were influenced by the ideas coming out of Europe, but they were also trying to find a way to express their own unique experience of the world. You can almost imagine her experimenting and finding her own way.