Abstracte compositie 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this abstract composition using printmaking techniques with black ink on a pale background, though it’s hard to say exactly when. The act of carving into a block to produce this image, would have been a mix of control and accident, wouldn't it? The clean shapes are dynamic, like figures or forms in the midst of some kind of action. Looking at the textures and the density of the black shapes makes me think of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the German Expressionist woodcut artists. It's got that same sense of intensity. You can imagine Stolk, maybe a bit isolated, wrestling with his materials, pushing the limits of the medium. He might have aimed for a smooth surface but then embraced the imperfections, those little splinters and rough edges that give the print its character. The different marks become a language, open for interpretation and speculation. It’s like he's inviting us into a conversation about how we see and what we feel.