Zwemmende eend 1923 - 1924

Julie de Graag made this woodcut print of a swimming duck. It's all about that stark contrast between black and white, which is a bold move, right? It’s like she's carving out the very essence of the duck, boiling it down to its simplest form. Look at the way she's handled the line, that ripple beneath the duck. It's just one clean stroke, but it speaks volumes about movement and the way the duck glides through the water. And the wing? Just a few simple shapes, yet it conveys so much about the duck's anatomy. De Graag reminds me of the American printmaker, Margaret Patterson, who also had that knack for capturing the essence of things. It's all about paring down to the essential, trusting the viewer to fill in the gaps. Art is an open conversation, after all.