Prayer - Interior of Naumberg Cathedral 1919

Werner Drewes made this woodcut, Prayer - Interior of Naumberg Cathedral, in 1919, using stark black and white to depict the interior of a cathedral. He made a series of marks like Morse code; dots and dashes of light against the darkness. The process of carving into wood gives a real physicality to the image. Look at the radiating lines above the pillars. See how the artist used a tool to make crisp, deliberate cuts? It’s almost as if the prayer itself is taking physical form, shooting heavenward like fireworks. The sharp diagonal slash of light on the right introduces a dynamic tension, cutting across the more vertical and orderly lines of the columns. Drewes's later work moved towards abstraction, but this piece retains a representational element, a tie to the real world. It reminds me a bit of some of Lyonel Feininger's architectural prints, especially in the way he captures the soaring, spiritual quality of gothic architecture. Ultimately, this print invites us to contemplate the dialogue between light and shadow, structure and chaos, in both the cathedral and within ourselves.