Seated Harlequin 1922

Heinrich Campendonk made this Harlequin print using wood, and you can tell he’s really enjoying the stark contrast of black and white to describe the scene. I imagine Campendonk thinking a lot about shapes and patterns, how a simple triangle or dot can give a surface real energy, and the way a stark outline can stand for a whole world of feeling. He’s really letting the material guide him in his choices. It’s a juggling act between control and letting go, seeing where the wood wants to take you. You can feel the influence of folk art and maybe a little bit of Cubism too, in the way he breaks down the figure into these geometric forms. It reminds me how artists are always borrowing and remixing ideas, turning them into something new and personal. It is a reminder that art making is a continuous process of give and take.