Composition IX - Crescents 1934

Werner Drewes made this woodcut print, Composition IX - Crescents, working with stark blacks and whites to carve out a space that feels both familiar and totally alien. You know, like when you wake up from a dream and try to remember the details? The texture is so important here, you can almost feel the grain of the wood and the pressure of the blade. It gives the whole image a raw, tactile quality. Notice how the horizontal lines in the lower half create a sense of depth, like we're looking out over water toward some kind of geometric city. The crescent shapes scattered throughout, how they echo and invert one another. The negative space becomes just as important as the solid forms. It's like Drewes is playing with our perception, challenging us to see the world in a new way. It reminds me a little of some of the early Vorticist printmakers, like Helen Saunders, but with a more playful, surreal twist. There's no right way to look at this, just a chance to get lost in the process.