Fehmarn Girls 1913

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this stark woodcut print, "Fehmarn Girls," with ink on paper. The whole thing is about mark making, isn't it? You can almost feel the blade of the knife gouging out the wood. Look at the foreground figure, her hand and chin. The angle of her face, all these hatched lines – they're not just descriptive, they are expressive and emotional. The black ink is so solid against the acidic yellow of the paper. The color feels confrontational and, somehow, anxious. Kirchner is showing us the anxiety of modern life. This reminds me of some of Munch's woodcuts, that same intensity of feeling. But where Munch is all swirling emotion, Kirchner is more about the harsh realities, the contrasts, the things that clash. Like art itself, these clashing elements are really what makes us sit up and take notice.