Physics-Biology 1939

Helen West Heller made this print, Physics-Biology, likely in the first half of the 20th century. The whole image buzzes with energy, doesn't it? It’s all done in black and white, and that contrast really makes each shape pop. You can almost feel the artist carving away at the block, making all these tiny marks, and the whole image is built from these deliberate actions. Look at how the light seems to glimmer on the microscope, or the texture on the horse skeleton. Everything is so carefully planned and executed, yet there's something almost chaotic about the arrangement. Like she is exploring all the building blocks of life at once. It reminds me of the way Picasso was piecing together fragmented images in his Cubist paintings. Heller is making a collage of ideas, inviting us to make connections and find new ways of seeing the world.