Verdriet 1914

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita made "Verdriet," or "Sorrow," a woodcut, sometime before 1944. I can imagine the artist in the studio, maybe a bit somber, and that sombre mood transferred to the woodblock. See how he made the figure emerge from the parallel grooves of the wood, the lines acting as both form and emotion? The figure seems carved out, almost trapped, within these repetitive lines. The brown ink gives it a muted feel, like a memory fading. The gesture of the woman holding her head in her hands conveys a sense of grief. It's an eternal theme that artists return to again and again, isn’t it? A way of working through feelings, making them visible. The horizontality of the lines across the body contrasts with the vertical background, which adds tension to the work. Ultimately, the artist explores the medium's possibilities, pushing its boundaries to communicate complex emotional states. It makes you think about the potential for art to give form to sorrow and, in the process, to connect us to it.