Yacht Racing (Jacht Wettsegeln) 1918

Lyonel Feininger made this woodcut, Yacht Racing, and boy, can you feel the wind! It's all jaggedy, with these slicing diagonal lines—like the artist chiseled straight into the feeling of a blustery day at sea. I imagine him, block of wood in hand, trying to get at something elemental. Maybe he was thinking about the push and pull of the ocean, the way the wind catches the sails, the precariousness of being out there, at the mercy of the elements. Those pointy sails jut out like paper cut-outs, and the angular waves? It's like the whole scene is vibrating. And then that little guy in the corner, watching? He's all of us, standing on the shore, marveling at the raw energy of nature, and the courage of those who dare to navigate it. This feels like a conversation with the German Expressionists, all of them trying to carve out a new way of seeing and feeling in a world that was changing fast.