Pauwies 1926

Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita made this woodcut print, Pauwies, sometime in the early 20th century. Look at the way he’s approached the bird’s plumage – each line so deliberately carved, creating a pattern that’s almost architectural. It's like he’s building up the bird, piece by piece. You can feel the artist engaging with the material. There's something very physical about this print; you can imagine Mesquita really digging into the wood. The contrast between the black ink and the stark white paper gives it a graphic punch, but it’s the small details, like the delicate lines suggesting the bird's feathers, that really grab me. Notice how the ground seems to disintegrate; it doesn't sit right, does it? As if the peacock is lost, stuck. It makes me think of the fragility of things. It reminds me a little of the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner; there's a similar intensity and interest in the relationship between humans and nature, the same commitment to using strong lines and bold shapes to express something deeper, something that words can't quite reach. Art, after all, it’s not about answers; it’s about keeping the conversation going.