Corner of the Garden 1936

Dorrit Black crafted this woodcut print, Corner of the Garden, rendering a serene garden scene through the lens of modernism. The image pulses with geometric forms and vibrant colours, yet it is the flowers that arrest our attention. Flowers, as symbols, transcend mere botanical beauty. In classical antiquity, they were emblems of Flora, the goddess of springtime, representing renewal and fertility. This motif recurs across epochs; Botticelli's "Primavera" bursts with floral abundance, each bloom a coded message of love and transformation. Observe here how Black adopts a stylised floral pattern, reducing nature to its essence, an echo of the Cubist aesthetic. Yet, we also find something primal in our response to flowers. Psychoanalytically, they might represent the blossoming of the self, the unfolding of hidden desires, like an early Freudian interpretation of dreams. This print, in its geometric simplicity, stirs a deep, subconscious resonance, connecting us to the continuous cycle of growth and decay, a timeless dance of life.