Meditation 1920

Max Weber made this intriguing little print called Meditation, and when I look at it, I imagine him carefully carving the image out of a block of wood. It’s like he’s coaxing the figure from the material. The dark areas have this incredible presence, and the figure emerges from the shadows almost magically, and it feels like he wants us to really feel that contrast. You know, I wonder if Max was thinking about the spiritual side of art when he made this? The way the face is simplified, almost mask-like, reminds me of some of the Modernists, like Picasso, who were so interested in non-Western art. I’m sure he was fascinated by the way different cultures use images to connect with something bigger than themselves. All us artists are in conversation, right?