Heidenstamm I 1918

Max Pechstein made this print, "Heidenstamm I," using engraving to carve a vision, or maybe a nightmare, into a metal plate. I can just picture Pechstein working on this, hunched over the plate, digging in with his tools. It's a dense scene. In the foreground, we see a man at a desk and then, above, an exotic scene with palm trees and figures. I wonder if Pechstein was thinking about the contrast between the familiar and the foreign, or the civilized and the wild. The lines feel scratchy and urgent, full of nervous energy. Artists are always having this conversation across time. They throw in their own experiences and ideas and challenge each other, even when they never meet. This print really invites us to consider the push and pull between different worlds and the questions that arise when they collide.