Duinlandschap 1922 - 1923

Bernard Essers made this woodcut print, "Duinlandschap" using simple tools and materials. It’s a study in contrasts. Look at the stark, almost brutal carving of the trees against the flat, untouched paper, it's like the negative space is screaming back at you. The chunky black ink and decisive marks feel immediate, like Essers was wrestling with the block. There’s a real physicality to it, you can almost feel the gouge digging into the wood. The trees remind me of puffy clouds and the birds look like paper cutouts, almost playful. That sinuous branch reaching out, is it beckoning or warning? This piece feels like a conversation with German Expressionists like Kirchner, or maybe even the graphic boldness of someone like Félix Vallotton. But Essers brings his own quiet, Dutch sensibility. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions we ask and the conversations we start.