Wrestlers 1909 - 1919

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska made this woodcut, Wrestlers, with ink on paper. The stark contrast between black and white is typical of the woodcut technique. It is achieved by carefully carving away parts of a wood block, leaving the design raised. Ink is then applied to the surface, and when pressed onto paper, the image appears. Gaudier-Brzeska's confident cuts create two figures entwined in a wrestling match, their bodies simplified into bold, geometric shapes, demonstrating the handcrafting skills of woodcut prints. Woodcut is an old printmaking method, but Gaudier-Brzeska, with this image, moves it into a modernist vocabulary of abstraction, using it to highlight the intense physical struggle of wrestling. Note the intense amount of work in the production process, and the emphasis on manual skills, with Gaudier-Brzeska transforming a traditional craft into a powerful expression of modern life. In doing so, the image challenges traditional artmaking hierarchies.