Night 1923

Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva made this woodcut, all in black and white, pulling away at the surface to let the white of the paper shine through. The whole image shimmers, doesn’t it? I’m thinking about her, alone in her studio, carefully choosing each cut, holding the tool just so, thinking about light and shadow. She’s really having a conversation with light, isn't she? The sky is amazing, so active with all those carved lines, mimicking the movement of the clouds. They seem to dance around the little crescent moon. I wonder if she was looking out the window when she made this. Or perhaps she’s remembering a place, bringing it to life through these bold marks? It reminds me a little bit of the work of someone like Edvard Munch. The way she’s handled the water – those vertical lines – it gives the whole scene a feeling of quiet and stillness. But it’s the stillness before something happens. It's like she’s saying, “Look closely, feel the quiet, because the night is full of secrets.”