Two Nudes with Horse 1918

This is Heinrich Campendonk’s black and white woodcut, Two Nudes with Horse, and I find myself wondering about the artist, alone with his wood block, carving out this image. The stark contrast of black and white creates a sort of nighttime scene. Campendonk's carving tool must have felt like an extension of his own hand, carefully chiseling away at the wood to reveal the figures. The horse is magnificent, with this pattern of spots and triangles like it’s wearing a costume. And then the two nudes, standing there in this strange landscape – what are they thinking, what is their relationship with the horse? There’s a shared interest between Campendonk and other Expressionist painters like Kirchner, in exploring the rawness of human emotion, and they do so by pushing the boundaries of representation. It's like they're all in this ongoing conversation, bouncing ideas off each other, daring each other to go further. A work like this reminds me that painting isn't just about depicting something, it's about feeling something, experiencing something. It’s a dialogue between the artist, the material, and the world around them.