Mit dem Selbstmord Spielen (Playing with Suicide) 1919

Walter Gramatté made this print, Mit dem Selbstmord Spielen, or Playing with Suicide, with a woodcut on paper. The palette is limited to the paper’s warm yellow tone, with black and red outlines, but the emotional range is vast. The marks feel immediate and raw, like the artist was carving not just the wood but also working through something dark inside himself. The texture is inherent to the woodcut process, with areas where the grain subtly appears through the ink. The lines are thick and thin, confident in some places, trembling in others. Look at the figure’s hand holding what looks like a musical instrument; there’s such vulnerability in the way it’s rendered. Gramatté was part of the Expressionist movement, and you can see that raw emotionality here. Think of artists like Kirchner and Heckel, who were also dealing with anxieties about modern life through bold colors and jagged lines. Art doesn’t always have to be pretty; sometimes, it’s about wrestling with the difficult stuff.