The Weavers 1943

Leopoldo Méndez's "The Weavers" is a woodcut, so the marks are really about removal—what he's taken away to leave us with these figures and their task. It's stark, black and white, all about contrast, like life or death. The textures Méndez coaxes out of this block are incredible. Look at the way he renders the sky, a series of horizontal lines which vary in width that recede into the background. Then there’s the cross-hatching on the figures' clothes, giving them volume and weight. I can almost feel the pressure of the blade as it carved away the wood, each cut a deliberate act. You can see the artist's hand, in the imperfections, in the slight wobbles of the lines, which reminds me of Kollwitz, but with a Mexican inflection. And that's what makes it so powerful—it's not just an image, it's a record of a process, of someone grappling with the material, trying to bring something into being.