Gezicht op het Höllengebergte met sneeuw 1926

This is Reijer Stolk's "View of the Höllengebirge with Snow", a woodcut. It’s all sharp contrasts, black and white and the artist's cuts describe the mountain as if it was made of geological origami. I imagine Stolk, armed with his tools, carefully carving away at the block, deciding what to reveal and what to conceal. What was it like for him to make these decisions? Was he thinking about the sublime, or maybe just trying to capture the way the light hits the snow? The mountain looms, but it's not overwhelming; it's more like a character in a play, solid and still. With the dark shadows under the snow, it's as though the mountain is breathing. It reminds me of the work of other artists, like Hiroshi Yoshida, who found ways to turn landscapes into powerful emotional spaces through the drama of light and shadow. Artists have always looked to nature, and to each other, for inspiration. We are all students together.