Gaukler 1902 - 1918

Maria Uhden made this dynamic linocut, Gaukler, sometime before she died in 1918. It's a black and white print, stark and bold, showing acrobats in action, maybe at a circus. I can imagine her carving away at the linoleum, each cut precise, defining the shapes of the figures, the tent, the caravan in the background. What was she thinking as she made those cuts? Was she at the circus herself, excited by the performance, or was she inventing this scene from memory? The solid black gives the figures weight and presence, while the white spaces create a sense of light and movement. It reminds me of other German Expressionist prints where simplified forms carry so much emotional weight. The acrobat's bodies are abstracted, almost geometric, yet they convey the strain and balance of their performance. The limited palette focuses our attention on form and composition. There's a kind of raw energy here, a directness that feels very contemporary, even though it’s over a century old. Artists like Uhden were in conversation with each other, pushing the boundaries of representation, exploring new ways of seeing and feeling.