Naakt met boek of stenen plaat in de hand 1924

Editor: Here we have Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita’s "Naakt met boek of stenen plaat in de hand," a woodcut from 1924. I find the geometric style very striking; it lends a sort of stoic quality to the figure. What are your thoughts on its composition? Curator: The starkness of the woodcut, the use of the geometric versus the organic form, is critical. Notice the series of nested rectangles which both confine and elevate the central figure. They also create visual layers. This layered effect flattens the space. Editor: So you're suggesting that the composition guides our eye and affects how we read the figure? Curator: Precisely. Note also how the figure’s body mimics the rectilinear shapes surrounding it, yet it retains soft, organic lines, which create a strong visual contrast and internal dialogue. The materiality also comes to the fore in the visible marks. What impression do you gather from that? Editor: It looks very hand-crafted. The slightly uneven print makes it feel more intimate somehow, rather than sterile. Curator: Exactly. This haptic quality invites a very particular reading of form that a machine aesthetic, for example, could not achieve. By pairing a relatively simple palette and organic nude figure, with striking geometries, we come to see how the tensions play out materially on the page. Editor: I’ve never considered how a woodcut could express form that way. Thanks. Curator: My pleasure, and an invitation to continually read, to discern, form in novel configurations.