Nude with Goat in Front of a House 1918

This is a black and white woodcut called 'Nude with Goat in Front of a House' by Heinrich Campendonk. What strikes me immediately is the contrast of light and dark shapes. The negative space is just as important as the forms. It feels as though Campendonk is really digging into the material, wrestling with the block of wood, using it to carve out this scene. Looking closely, you can see the marks from his tools, giving the whole piece a raw, almost folksy feeling. The figure in the foreground, with her elongated limbs and intense gaze, anchors the composition, while the goat and the house create a sort of dreamlike atmosphere. I think of Paula Modersohn-Becker's woodcuts, with their simplified forms, as a point of reference, but Campendonk really makes it his own. It's not about perfection; it's about the energy of the mark.