Ships Along a Rocky Coast 1920

Lyonel Feininger made this woodcut, Ships Along a Rocky Coast, and what strikes me is the dance of dark against light, where jagged shapes meet the softer grain of the paper. I imagine Feininger carefully carving away at the wood block. What kind of focus would that have taken? The concentration to remove material, to reveal a scene of ships battling the elements. You can sense the starkness of the landscape and the human figures on deck, facing the unknown. It reminds me of other artists, like the German Expressionists, who used printmaking to capture the raw emotion and social realities of their time. Each cut, each line, it’s like they’re speaking to us across time, showing us how they saw the world. These artists, they’re all in conversation, influencing and pushing each other to see things in new ways. It’s all one big, beautiful, messy exchange of ideas.