The Peoples Revenge 1943

Leopoldo Méndez made this print, The People’s Revenge, with black ink on paper, and you can see the process right there on the surface. The whole thing feels immediate, raw. Méndez's use of stark black and white creates a high contrast, heightening the drama. Look at the way the lines carve out the figures, how the texture of the woodblock gives everything a kind of rough, almost brutal quality. Notice how the marks coalesce to form figures and shapes, but the marks remain present as marks. The scratches and gouges create a vibrating surface that keeps your eye moving. It’s like he’s not just showing you a scene but also the act of making it. There is a long tradition of printmaking as a form of social commentary, you can think of someone like Kathe Kollwitz who also used the medium to express ideas about war and social justice. Both artists demonstrate how a fixed image can still embrace ambiguity and the possibility of different interpretations.