Am Ufer (At the Riverbank) 1920

Max Pechstein made this print, At the Riverbank, most likely using etching, which is where you scratch an image into a metal plate and then use acid to bite the lines. I think of that process a lot when I’m painting – it’s about pressure, resistance, and the dance between control and accident. This print is full of life, isn't it? See how the figures are kind of blocky and raw, but also full of movement. Look at the scratchy lines that make up the trees and the water. The textures here are alive! There’s an unfinished, immediate quality, as if Pechstein was trying to capture a fleeting moment. The ink isn’t perfect, there’s variation, some smudge. It’s this kind of directness that I always look for in art, it is about being in the moment. You know who else was great at this? Edvard Munch.