Composition with Horse, Deer, and Stag 1916

This is Heinrich Campendonk's "Composition with Horse, Deer, and Stag," made with woodcut, and it’s like stepping into a forest dream. The high contrast between black and white areas speaks to me of the tension between clarity and mystery. Campendonk chops the scene into blocks of light and shadow. There is something joyful in the way he lets the medium dictate the form: the animals, rendered in bold, flat planes, seem to emerge from the very grain of the wood. Take a look at the stag's antlers, they become geometric, abstract shapes which echo the foliage around them, creating a rhythm across the whole composition. This print reminds me of the work of Franz Marc, another German Expressionist, who similarly used animals as vehicles for exploring spiritual and emotional states. But, in the end, what’s important is how this print speaks to you, right now. Art is a conversation, a dialogue between the artist, the work, and, of course, you.