The Shepherd 1920

Heinrich Campendonk made this woodcut print, ‘The Shepherd’, using graphic black lines, earthy orange-brown, and touches of minty green. Imagine Campendonk carving into the woodblock, carefully cutting away to reveal the forms. Look at the way the black ink is so dense, contrasting with the untouched paper, it feels graphic and bold. The shepherd’s face emerges, a curious expression with that amazing dangling moustache, somewhere between knowing and innocent. I'm wondering if he was thinking about folklore or some kind of mystical connection to nature? There's something about the figures and the stylized plants that feels both ancient and modern, maybe like a scene from a dream. It makes me think of other artists who were exploring similar themes at the time, like folks in the Blaue Reiter group.