Zelfportret 1906 - 1945

Reijer Stolk made this self-portrait, Zelfportret, a woodcut, sometime between 1910 and 1945. It's all black and white, so the shapes and marks really pop out. It feels immediate, like Stolk was working quickly, but the face still has a lot of character. What do you notice first? For me it’s the way he’s used these thick white lines to suggest the shape of his face, particularly the nose and beard. The texture is amazing; you can almost feel the grain of the wood. There’s something really cool about seeing the artist see themselves. It feels so intimate, like a glimpse into his mind. It reminds me a little of some of the German Expressionist woodcuts, that same sense of urgency and emotional intensity. But Stolk’s got his own thing going on. Art’s just this never-ending conversation, right?