Wederopstanding van Colijn 1920 - 1949

Chris Lebeau made this piece, "Wederopstanding van Colijn" - or "Resurrection of Colijn" - a woodcut, sometime in the early 20th century. Isn’t it something? You can really feel the artist going at it, digging into the block with real determination. The black and white is so stark, so graphic, it gives the image a kind of raw, confrontational energy. Look how Lebeau uses these wild, slashing marks to build up the sky, or the crowd. It’s almost like he's carving out the negative space to let the figures emerge from the darkness. And the way he renders Colijn himself, so sharp and angular, holding this kind of… measuring stick? A bible floats in the middle ground. And then this strange pit with the can of fuel - “petroleum”. It feels almost symbolic, like some kind of dark ritual, or a theatrical set piece. I can't help but think about artists like Käthe Kollwitz, who used similar techniques to express political and social unrest. There is something so forceful and direct about printmaking, this feels like a direct ancestor. Art is never really finished, is it? Just a continuous conversation through time and space.