Boom met hartvormige bladeren 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this tree with heart-shaped leaves out of black ink on paper. Imagine the artist deciding to carve away the negative space, revealing the image bit by bit. It's a slow reveal. The leaves, each a tiny heart, create a dense canopy. What kind of concentration did it take to make each one like that? Stolk, like all artists, was probably looking at other artists while making this, thinking about their art. It is a conversation. This print reminds me of other bold, graphic printmakers like, say, Emil Nolde. You know, art begets art, right? Stolk's tree feels like a metaphor for love itself. The dense foliage, made up of hundreds of hearts, gives way to the solid presence of the tree trunk, an enduring symbol of strength and support.