Cirque de Paris 1922

Georg Alexander Mathey made this woodcut print, called "Cirque de Paris," and it's all sharp angles and high contrast! Can't you just imagine him carving away at the wood, each cut deliberate, to capture the energy of the circus? Look at the acrobat, a black silhouette against the stark white background. The circus feels exciting but a little scary, with its stark shapes and watchful audience! Maybe Mathey was thinking about those German Expressionists, like Kirchner, who were also playing with woodcuts. It also reminds me a little of those WPA prints in the States. There's something so direct and immediate about printmaking, a way of capturing a moment in time. Maybe it's about showing us the tension between spectacle and the individuals watching, all rendered in this really graphic way. It's a cool way to explore the human experience through the lens of entertainment.