Eavesdropping 1919 - 1920

Walter Gramatté made this woodcut print, all tight, close-up faces, maybe sometime in the 1920s. Look at the stark contrast between black and white! I can almost feel the artist carving away at the block, deciding what to leave and what to take away. You can sense the physical effort involved, and feel his decision-making, that back and forth. I imagine him thinking, "How can I make this face readable with just a few cuts?" These folks are all crammed together, as if they’re sharing a secret, or maybe they’re just trying to catch a glimpse of something they shouldn’t be seeing. Are they friends? Strangers? What are they up to? It reminds me of other artists who worked with woodcuts, like Munch, who used the medium's graphic qualities to express intense emotions. Ultimately, this feels like Gramatté is inviting us to bring our own stories, maybe it’s about that universal human desire to know what’s going on behind closed doors.