Broadsheet with Christ in the cross flanked by two angels 1910

This anonymous broadsheet of Christ on the cross, flanked by angels, hits you with its graphic intensity. It's all about lines here, isn't it? Scratchy, sure, direct. You can almost feel the artist digging into the plate, wrestling with the image. Look at the way the lines swarm around the figure of Christ, creating a sense of, dare I say, urgency. The texture isn't smooth or polished; it's raw, immediate. There’s no hiding the process, no attempt to pretty things up. The lines around the clouds and the bodies of the angels are so simple that you could almost replicate the image yourself, but the image as a whole is deeply affecting. This piece reminds me of the work of Martín Ramírez, another artist who knew how to make the most of a simple mark. Like Ramírez, this anonymous artist knew how to turn something simple into something profound. And really, isn’t that what art is all about?