Decembre (December) 1962

Gy Szabo Bela made this black and white print called ‘December’ in 1962. I can almost hear the scratching and carving away at the wood, the artist digging into the surface to reveal these skeletal trees against a pale winter ground. Imagine Bela’s focus, each cut precise, building up the image bit by bit. You get the feeling that the trees have been looked at very closely and are recorded in such a way to feel like a scientific observation of the natural world. The bold marks create a dense pattern. I see the influence of other printmakers, like those German Expressionists, who weren’t afraid of using stark contrast to convey emotion. It’s a conversation across time, artists responding to one another, pushing the boundaries of what a print can do. The work seems so solid with it’s monochromatic palette, but the hand-carved lines allow the image to live and breathe. It's a reminder that art is never truly finished, it is always evolving.