Au Bordel c. 1905 - 1920

This print, Au Bordel, by Maurice de Vlaminck, lives at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. He was a contemporary of Matisse, painting in France in the early 20th century, and this piece is a woodcut. It’s almost brutalist in its simplicity – just bold black lines on a white ground. The figures emerge raw and immediate. I can imagine Vlaminck wrestling with the woodblock, gouging out these shapes with real physical force. Look at the way he carves a body with just a few strokes, the essence of form. I wonder if he was thinking of Gauguin or even Edvard Munch, with their own raw, graphic styles? This isn't about finesse; it's about expression. It’s a primal scream rendered in ink and wood, one artist responding to another, echoing across time. And that, my friends, is the messy, beautiful conversation that keeps art alive.