And Their Eyes were Opened 1955

Fritz Eichenberg made this print, called 'And Their Eyes were Opened,' which illustrates a scene from the book of Genesis. The whole image is built up from these marks, like tiny hatch marks and denser clusters of lines, all working together to create this intense biblical scene. The physicality of the medium is so important here, you can feel the pressure of the tool cutting away at the surface. The lines are so dense and the tonal range is narrow, almost like he's wrestling with the material to get the image out. Take a look at the angel on the left of the image, the light emanating from it, made just from these tiny white marks scratched away with such intention and care. It's like he's building the image out of pure light. This piece reminds me a lot of the German Expressionists, like Kathe Kollwitz, who explored similar themes of suffering and redemption through printmaking. Ultimately, Eichenberg’s work invites us to contemplate the complex and enduring power of the biblical narrative, and think about how meaning is constructed through the labor of the artist.