Vee bij de kust 1924

Jo Bezaan made this woodcut of cows by the coast sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It's small. I imagine her setting up her tools, carving the image in reverse, paring away at the block bit by bit. This kind of reduction in woodcut always requires a leap of faith – a removal of material. The image is a stark contrast of dark cows and bright white sails. There’s a heaviness to the mass of the animals against the lightness of the sea and sky. The texture feels rough, evoking the natural world, the cows, the sand, the churning sea. I think she’s not just showing us something, but also making a statement about the relationship between land and sea. Bezaan is playing with the idea of figure and ground, solid and void. In painting as in life, the conversation is constant, the exchange of ideas never-ending. We can see how artists continually inspire one another, echoing and amplifying creative expression across time.