Undeclared War 1938

William Jacobs made this dramatic woodcut print, 'Undeclared War', sometime in the 1930s. Just imagine him, wrestling with the wood block, carving out these stark figures of soldiers and civilians in high contrast. I can almost feel the artist's hand, pushing against the resistance of the material, each gouge and slice a deliberate act of shaping the composition. The angular lines and dense masses of black ink create a claustrophobic atmosphere, full of tension. Those dark, jagged shapes evoke the chaos and brutality of conflict, the weight of the subject presses down on everything. The more I look, the more I see echoes of other artists grappling with war, from Goya to Otto Dix. And yet, Jacobs brings his own distinct voice to the conversation, speaking to the specific anxieties of his time. Artists are always in dialogue across generations. They help us make sense of our world, or at least, help us feel it a little deeper.