Merry X-Mas from the Zorachs c. 1920

Here's a woodcut print by Marguerite Zorach, offering holiday greetings in bold black and white. I can imagine the artist, Marguerite, carefully carving into the woodblock, each cut a deliberate act of reduction and revelation. The figures are simplified, almost iconic, with strong outlines and patterned clothing. Look at the way she uses negative space to define form. There’s a real sense of play in the composition, a kind of graphic exuberance. I bet she was thinking about Cubism at the time. She’s part of an ongoing conversation, you see, experimenting with how to translate form and feeling into a new kind of visual language. And here it is pressed onto paper, like a message in a bottle.