Schreeuwende kraai 1918

Jan Mankes made this woodcut, "Screaming Crow," with ink on paper, but I don’t know when. Look at this all-over pattern of marks, like the grain of wood made graphic, even the crow itself. The marks are all parallel lines, so dense in places that they create solid black shapes, and spare enough elsewhere to suggest depth and volume. It’s a reductive process, removing material, which brings a sense of care to each cut. The paper has texture; it’s clear Mankes was interested in the material aspects of artmaking. The crow has a lot to say, and what it lacks in detail, it makes up for in presence. Think of this as a dialogue with other printmakers, like Whistler. It’s all connected, this conversation between artists across time.