Anatomische studie van de rug- en bilspieren van een man in silhouet 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this Anatomische studie van de rug- en bilspieren van een man in silhouet with printmaking. The whole thing is built from these graphic marks, so it's kind of like drawing with a knife or a chisel, right? I love how the dark silhouette is interrupted by white lines, creating a map of musculature. It's a body, but it's also a diagram. Look at how the artist uses the stark contrast to define each muscle group, like the deltoids on the shoulder. You can almost feel the tension in those lines. The texture is quite rough, and you get the sense of the artist really digging into the material, making choices, and then having to stick with them. Think of someone like Dürer, who also used printmaking to explore the body; there is this lineage of mark making for the purpose of understanding. It's like a form of embodied knowledge, the conversation continues.