Bergtoppen 1892 - 1951

Janus de Winter's "Bergtoppen" is a print made with a clear love for the process; you can see how the artist's hand moved across the block. The stark contrast between black and white carves out a world of rugged peaks and dramatic shadows. Look closely, and you'll notice how the texture becomes everything. The lines aren't just lines; they're tiny canyons and ridges that mimic the very landscape they depict. It’s like de Winter is saying, the material of art is another kind of nature. I’m drawn to the way the tallest peak is rendered, a vertical thrust of jagged marks. It’s as if de Winter wants us to feel the earth pushing upward, a real sense of the mountain's mass and the energy it took to form it. In its bold, graphic style, I am reminded of the woodcuts of someone like Gauguin, another artist who wasn’t afraid to let the medium speak. Ultimately, this print reminds us that art is always an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing that shifts and evolves with each new voice.