Mountains with a Mountain Hut 1921

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this print of mountains with a mountain hut using woodcut. It's all rugged black lines and white space. I can imagine him hacking away at that block of wood, figuring out how to make these mountains emerge. The clouds swirl above, kinda menacing, and below, there is a humble hut nestled in the landscape. It's like the mountains are pressing in, a reminder of the smallness of human endeavor against the backdrop of nature. Kirchner was part of a group of German Expressionist artists who aimed to express intense emotional experience through their art. I bet he felt overwhelmed or isolated up there in the mountains. But those carved lines, so rough and bold, they have a kind of raw beauty. Kirchner's really talking here! And his conversation continues to reverberate through the work of other artists, each of us trying to find a way to express our own feelings.