Head by head 1905

Edvard Munch made this print, Head by head, with woodcut, a process where the artist cuts into a block of wood, leaving a raised design which is then inked and printed. Look at the way Munch’s cuts into the wood feel almost brutal, there’s no attempt to disguise the process of its making. The colors, an intense red and cool blue, are laid down in simple planes, lending the image a raw, emotional charge. In the lower center of the picture, where the two heads almost become one, you can see how he uses the wood grain to describe the forms of the faces. Those parallel lines both connect and divide the figures. This emphasizes the tension between closeness and distance, maybe mirroring the push and pull of relationships themselves. The reductive method and stark contrasts in this print reminds me of the bold simplicity in German Expressionist prints, but with a decidedly Scandinavian twist. The beauty of art lies in these dialogues across time and place.