Fontamara XI 1947

Fayga Ostrower created this print, Fontamara XI, probably in the middle of the 20th century, by carving away at a block and then pressing paper against it. You can see that she’s working in big chunks of black and white. Imagine her, wrestling with the block, making decisive cuts, and maybe even changing her mind a bunch of times along the way. There's a figure seated, maybe interrupted in their day. Other forms loom, and stripes of light suggest an opening through which we can see the world. There’s an element of surprise with printmaking, right? You can't see the image until you've made a print. I wonder if that final reveal was anything like she expected! I am always inspired by an artist who has the courage to try a new method, or who can take a traditional method and make it fresh! It feels like there's something to be learned from this image, perhaps about the ways we make assumptions about the world, and how those assumptions might be wrong.