Before Winter 1941

J. Jay McVicker made this dynamic black ink print showing horses by bare winter trees. I imagine McVicker wrestling with this block of wood, carving it like a sculptor—a push and pull, and a kind of dance. There’s something really great about printmaking. It’s all about decisions made through carving, cutting, and pressure. You can see him committing to the stark graphic contrasts, cutting into that wood. Each mark communicates feeling and meaning, like the nervous, scraggly branches of the trees, silhouetted against the sky. Look at how the trees frame the two horses. Are they waiting for something? There is a real sense of stillness, of waiting for the coming winter, which reminds me a little of the prints of Munch and Beckmann. Artists are in this ongoing conversation, inspiring each other’s creativity. Painting, printmaking—any art—is a form of expression that embraces ambiguity, allowing for many interpretations and meanings.