Stehender Knabe und zwei Mädchen I c. 1914

Otto Mueller made this woodcut, “Stehender Knabe und zwei Mädchen I” with big, bold marks, like he was carving directly into feeling. There's such an immediate quality, isn’t there? Raw and elemental, like the figures just emerged from the earth. You can almost feel the give of the wood, the resistance and then the sudden release. The black ink creates flat shapes, but each figure also comes alive in the negative space around it, giving each body a vibrating energy. See how the shapes interact, locking together like puzzle pieces? Then notice the way the background is built with slashing marks that evoke a kind of claustrophobia This piece reminds me a lot of Paula Modersohn-Becker's early Expressionist paintings, they’re both reaching back to find something primitive and true. There’s something about the vulnerability and directness of Mueller’s line that stays with you, long after you’ve left the room.