Fontamara II 1947

Fayga Ostrower made this woodcut, Fontamara II, a dance of black and white, probably sometime in the mid-20th century. I imagine her in the studio, tools in hand, carving away at the block, thinking maybe about the Italian landscape. It’s like a stage set, but with these looming mountains in the background. They have a kind of jagged energy, looming over the tiny village. And that little figure in the center – is he walking into the scene or out of it? I like to think about Ostrower's process, the labor, the cutting, the wiping away, the pressure of the press. It makes me think about artists like Käthe Kollwitz who used printmaking for its graphic punch. Ultimately, a piece like this makes you realize that art is an ongoing conversation, right? We’re all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world in our own way.