Composition with Horse, Deer, and Stag 1916

This black ink print by Heinrich Campendonk conjures a surreal woodland scene. I like to imagine Campendonk carefully carving each line, shape and detail into the block, with his tools. The composition is packed with graphic forms of horses, deer and dogs, intertwined with geometric foliage and abstract patterns. I can almost feel his hand moving across the surface, intuitively responding to the material. I wonder, did the pressure of the blade feel similar to holding a pen? The high contrast and stark simplicity of the medium create a dreamlike, almost nightmarish quality. Campendonk's expressive distortion of form and space reminds me of other artists who challenged conventional ways of seeing. Art-making, whether writing or painting, is an act of call and response. We are each in conversation, in a relay race from the past to the present to the future. I find such comfort in this continuity.