Linde in Lage Vuursche 1908 - 1920

Gretha Pieck made this woodcut, Linde in Lage Vuursche, without a date but, you know, it's still here! It’s just black lines on a white background but, oh, what expressive lines. Look at how they swarm around the trunk of the tree, so thick and strong, and the way they break up into jagged shards near the ground. I imagine Pieck relishing the physicality of cutting into that wood block, the give and take between control and chance. I wonder what it was like for her to make this print. Her young life ended too soon. Maybe she saw the tree as a symbol of endurance, something solid in the face of all the turmoil and change. Or maybe it was just a tree she saw every day, its familiar presence a comfort. You can almost feel the weight of the tree, the rough texture of its bark, and the quiet stillness of the landscape. This print reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, each adding their own voice to the ongoing story of art.