Speed Skater 1943

Henry Mark made this woodcut, Speed Skater, and I'm imagining him in his studio, maybe thinking about speed, movement, and a kind of poised stillness. Look at how he's handled the surface! It's like he's scraping and scratching, pushing the wood to its limit, yet still managing to capture the figure's grace. And the colors - that muted yellow against the blue - it's a choice, right? It creates a strange tension, a kind of visual friction. When you look at the skater's hand, it's like a little arrow. It makes me think of other artists who have used the hand as a symbol of direction or purpose, like Giotto. Ultimately, it's all connected, you know? We're all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world in our own way. That's the beauty of art: it's an ongoing conversation.