‘Hola, hola’ carol 1924

Tadeusz Makowski made this woodcut, ‘Hola, hola’ carol, using simple black ink to tell a complex story. The whole thing seems to teeter between folk art and something more knowing, more modern, with the use of abstraction in mark making. Take a look at the dark, almost gothic shapes of the figures at the top, jumping and whooping it up, all rendered with slashing diagonals, triangles and rectangles. This frenzy is then juxtaposed with the more grounded shapes of the nativity scene below. The image as a whole has the feel of an ecstatic dance or celebration, with the angular lines creating a sense of chaotic energy. Like many artists, such as Kirchner, Makowski used the woodcut process to bring a raw, emotional charge to his work. It reminds us that art is often about embracing imperfections and finding beauty in the unexpected.