Fanny Wocke 1916

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this woodcut, "Fanny Wocke," sometime in the early 20th century, cutting away at the block to leave these stark black and white lines. The whole thing is about mark-making and the process of removal – he’s digging in there, wrestling with the material. The texture of the paper is almost as important as the image. Look at the area around her eye, the network of lines, it's like he's mapping out the topography of a face, but also the emotional landscape within. It's physical, like you can feel the force of his hand, the resistance of the wood. Kirchner's woodcuts remind me a little of Edvard Munch, that same intensity of feeling, that willingness to distort the figure to get at something deeper. Art isn't just about representation, it’s about a feeling, a vibe, a way of seeing the world that's always shifting, always open to interpretation.