Hunger c. 1935 - 1939

Alexander Stavenitz made this etching, called "Hunger," at some point in his life, but we don't know when. Looking at the monochrome plate, I imagine the labor that went into it. It’s all lines and marks, right? You can almost feel the artist's hand scratching away at the plate. I think he’s grappling with a difficult subject. It is a harrowing image. I imagine he might have felt compelled to convey something about the world, his society and perhaps he was driven by a desire to critique or comment on it. There’s a mother holding a child, and two other kids standing at her side. They stand in opposition to the well-to-do in the carriage and the watch dogs. It has a really graphic quality – like the German Expressionists like Kollwitz, who, like Stavenitz, used printmaking to convey her message. Ultimately, artists see art, get ideas, and then make more art. It's a never-ending cycle of influence and inspiration. I think it's cool.