Dawn, No. 2 1923

Curator: J. J. Lankes’ “Dawn, No. 2” from 1923, is a compelling woodcut that captures a landscape on the cusp of day. Editor: There’s something deeply melancholic about it. The stark black and white emphasizes a world caught between darkness and light. What strikes you about the symbolism here? Curator: The landscape as a whole becomes symbolic of hope struggling against oppression. Notice how Lankes uses horizontal lines to represent both the fading night sky and the promise of the dawn. It gives it this feeling of weight and the quiet struggle against darkness to attain light. Editor: And the cluster of stars reminds me of small acts of resistance. The woodcut technique, with its sharp contrast, enhances that stark division between dominant power and potential agency. It almost anticipates later political divisions. How can such an image capture so much complexity? Curator: The very medium adds layers. The act of carving itself mimics those daily struggles and reinforces this symbolism of transformation. From the mountains in the midground all the way through to those radiant, yet soft, clouds! It's dawn emerging but through struggle. Editor: The image suggests more than a pretty sunrise. Look at the houses along the base—each light flickering, and hinting at individual lives beginning, full of individual problems but as a community united by this daily return of the light. Curator: In my eyes, it is a testament to the power of visual symbols to compress profound themes into deceptively simple forms. This work serves as an elegant symbol to illustrate perseverance. Editor: I see now a stark statement about perseverance but with an acceptance of struggle woven into it; in my experience it gives the composition depth that encourages ongoing personal, political, and artistic reflection.