Casting Out Bad Luck 1904

Helen Hyde made this image, Casting Out Bad Luck, as a woodblock print. Look at the flat planes of color, the pinks and grays, offset by the black outlines. It's about a specific moment, but more so, it's about the artist enacting a process, as if the ritual of printing itself is casting something out. I'm drawn to the surface, how it seems to absorb light rather than reflect it. It's like looking at something through a screen, the image slightly softened, inviting you to lean in closer. Notice the small dots floating around the figure, suggesting movement or perhaps a kind of spiritual energy being released. It’s a beautiful dance between precision and suggestion. It reminds me a little of Félix Vallotton, another printmaker who explored similar themes of intimacy and domestic life. Like Vallotton, Hyde embraces the ambiguity of her medium. There’s no single interpretation here, just an invitation to feel, to wonder, and to connect with the work on a personal level.