Don Quixote and Sancho Panza 

Editor: We're looking at "Don Quixote and Sancho Panza," a woodcut print by Louis Schanker. The abstract shapes almost dance between the cool blues and warm reds. What's your interpretation of this, given the iconic subject matter? Curator: Ah, yes, Schanker's Quixote! To me, it whispers of tilting at windmills, not literally recreating the scene but capturing its restless energy. See how the angular forms seem almost caught in mid-motion, clashing and yet connected by those delicate lines. Do you feel that tension between the figures? Editor: I do! It's like a contained explosion of feeling. Is this common for expressionist woodcuts? Curator: Absolutely. Expressionists often favored woodcut for its raw, gestural possibilities. The bold cuts echo the inner turmoil that artists sought to express, distilling the essence of a story. Schanker, though abstracting, gives us the soul of Cervantes' tale, the idealistic yet flawed quest, the eternal interplay between dreaming and reality. The blue and red almost seem like opposing forces, wouldn't you say? Editor: Definitely. It is like the cold calculation versus the fervent passion in Quixote's own mind. The simplification really does hit hard, like it is a universally-understood icon, rather than a snapshot. Curator: Precisely! Abstraction lets us tap into those universal emotions, stripping away the literal. Editor: I’m starting to see it less as a depiction, more of a… distilled feeling of Quixote. It almost makes the story new again, accessible. Curator: And isn’t that what great art should do? Reframe, remind, and reignite. Thanks for noticing with me! Editor: My pleasure! I will never look at a windmill the same way again.