Nude Boy with Fish 1916

This is *Nude Boy with Fish* by Heinrich Campendonk. It’s a woodcut, so right away you know there’s a whole process of planning, carving, and printing involved. You can feel that physical, hands-on, step-by-step labor of love. Imagine the artist, like a god, arranging this little ecosystem of boy, fish, and plantlife. See how the composition is balanced with these hard-edged abstracted shapes, juxtaposed with the fleshy roundedness of the boy and the fish? The boy is holding the fish, yes, but is he also being burdened by them? Is this about the abundance of nature, or our exploitation of it? I think Campendonk might be asking us to consider our place in the natural world. These artists are always talking to each other, across time, and to us. Painting and printmaking allows for an open exchange of ideas, offering endless possibilities for interpretation.