Winter Garden 1935

Wanda Gág made this print, called *Winter Garden*, using lithographic crayon and tusche in 1937. I can imagine her bent over the lithographic stone, carefully layering strokes to capture the scene before her, a domestic interior crowded with plants. I'm drawn to the ways the plants seem to spill and thrive indoors, reaching for the window. The light filtering in must have felt like a precious thing, especially in winter. Gág has balanced the composition beautifully. See how the plants fill the frame, with the dark tones creating a kind of shelter? The artist has offset this with the inclusion of two cats, heightening the sense of a shared, intimate world. It reminds me of other women artists, like Florine Stettheimer or Alice Neel, who also found endless inspiration within their own homes and neighbourhoods. The act of looking closely, and celebrating the everyday, is a radical act.