Outdoors 1936

Friedolin Kessler made this monochromatic woodcut, titled "Outdoors," sometime in the 20th century. Look closely at the way Kessler’s marks create this scene; the work is more than just a picture. It's about the pressure of the blade, the resistance of the wood, and the stark contrast between what's there and what's been taken away. The figure’s body is built from a series of lines, hatching and cross-hatching, which give him a sense of solidity, of weight. And above him, the mountain, rendered in these soft, almost cloud-like forms, repeats the curves of the human form. The tree on the left is a column of thick, dark ink, needles exploding into the negative space of the background. Kessler reminds me of someone like Käthe Kollwitz; there's that same attention to the working classes and to the realities of manual labor. But ultimately, art is about conversation, about seeing what someone else did and saying, "Yeah, and..." "Outdoors" isn't just a picture; it's a testament to the enduring power of simple materials to convey complex ideas.