Christmas Card 

Curator: First impressions? It's like peering through frosted glass at something ancient and swirling. Editor: Precisely! This is Louis Schanker's woodcut print, simply titled "Christmas Card." Look closely at the stark contrast of black and white. There is a lot happening there! Curator: A 'Christmas Card,' you say? With those abstract swirls? It certainly makes me question what the images were supposed to communicate! There are curves, some almost-letter shapes that make me think of illuminated manuscripts, but the texture looks rather rugged. It is less about elegance and more about making an immediate statement through bold and expressive cuts. Editor: A classic card certainly this isn’t. However, notice the power of simplified forms and symbolic elements that could also remind the eye of festive shapes. Its beauty is that it speaks of collective memory: each viewer is bound to reflect personal history and emotional significance of the season onto the image. Schanker strips Christmas of its traditional symbols, but this leaves space for introspection! Curator: That makes sense. It feels more about capturing a feeling or mood associated with that time. Like, the chaos and closeness of family squished together! There are layers and details everywhere, like searching in childhood memories, distorted in the past, for something real! It is kind of exciting in a strange way. Editor: I find it intriguing how he’s used this coarse texture in his technique, probably the way he cut and pressed it to communicate such powerful emotions through simple patterns and the limitations of the printing process. The bold shapes are rather confident as well, perhaps even rebellious. Curator: Perhaps Schanker was attempting to reclaim what had already become so conventional. Christmas can get quite dull, no? All those pre-set ideals. Editor: He has transformed a humble format, like a woodcut, used since time immemorial for communicating mass information in Europe, to express a deeply subjective experience! And perhaps, inspire the viewer to reflect. Curator: Yes, and what starts out as what looks like an ordinary black and white print turns into a journey into the deeper experience of human feeling around Christmas time! Editor: Exactly! Now if you want something that inspires your reflection and isn't sentimental, look at that card right here!