Polo 1941

Louis Schanker made this block print, Polo, with ink on paper. The limited palette of black and white forces your eye to make a decision, to really read the image and discern its subject, but maybe that's the point. The geometry of the figures suggests a kind of machine aesthetic, an idea that really took hold in the early 20th Century. There's a tension between the rough and handmade quality of the print itself and the hard-edged forms within it. Take a look at the way the figures are constructed, a series of planes that make up the horse and rider. Like a cubist painting, Schanker's composition plays with the viewer’s perception, challenging the way we see and interpret forms. This print reminds me of the work of Franz Marc, who also liked to paint horses, but both artists are channeling something of Picasso I think. Ultimately, it is an image that invites us to embrace the ambiguity of forms, finding joy in the dynamic interplay between abstraction and representation.