Harbour, Veere 1929

Dorrit Black made this print, Harbour, Veere, by cutting into a block to create a black and white image. It’s so graphic, all about the push and pull of the tool against the wood, making these stark, contrasting marks. There’s a real materiality here, you can almost feel the give of the wood, and the way the shapes snap into focus. Look how Black carves the water, these simple horizontal lines that somehow convey depth, like we’re right there at the edge of the dock. And then the boats, these solid black forms, with just a few carved lines to give them shape and definition. It puts me in mind of some of the work of the German Expressionist woodcut artists, like Heckel or Kirchner, but with its own flavor. It’s like Black is saying, let’s keep art fresh, alive, and always ready to surprise us.