Gargantua: Chapter XXV 1942

Bernard Reder made this print, Gargantua: Chapter XXV, sometime in the 20th century, and it feels like it’s pulled from a dream, or maybe a nightmare. The whole image is built from these scratchy, urgent marks that feel both controlled and chaotic. Look at the way Reder uses black and white to create depth and texture! The figures are roughly hewn, their forms emerging from the dense network of lines. There’s a rawness to it, a directness that I find so appealing. See how the foreground figures are so much darker and dense than the ones in the back? It really makes the eye jump back and forth. Reder reminds me a little bit of José Guadalupe Posada, that master of Mexican printmaking. Both of them had a knack for turning the ordinary into something fantastical and a little bit unsettling. Ultimately, this print invites us to get lost in its intricate details and find our own story within its strange, captivating world.