Composition V - Large and Small Circle 1934

Werner Drewes made this woodcut, Composition V – Large and Small Circle, on paper. I'm so curious about printmaking, all that positive and negative space! This print is all about contrast, black and white bumping up against each other. See the textures that emerge from the wood grain? The dark and light fighting for space on the page remind me of those early abstract films, where shapes dance and flicker. My eye keeps landing on that smaller circle, hovering near the top, it anchors all the straight lines, softening the composition. The way Drewes contrasts areas of dense hatching with clean, open forms feels related to the work of Kandinsky, who was interested in the spiritual in art and saw abstraction as a path to enlightenment. Of course, art is never just one thing, it’s always an ongoing conversation.