Poverty assailed by dogs 1924

This black ink on paper print is by the Polish artist Tadeusz Makowski. It's such a striking image! I can imagine him, hunched over the block of wood, carefully carving away the negative space to reveal this scene. The stark contrast of black and white creates such a dramatic effect, right? It’s all about capturing the raw emotion of the moment. I wonder what Makowski was thinking when he made this? Was he trying to convey a sense of desperation? Look at the way the dogs are depicted, all teeth and snarls. And then there are those figures overhead, faces like smiling suns – what are they doing there? The whole thing reminds me a bit of the woodcuts of Edvard Munch, that same kind of raw intensity. But Makowski brings his own unique sensibility to it, a kind of folk-art simplicity that's really compelling. It's like he's tapping into something primal and universal. Artists are always in conversation with one another, borrowing and riffing on ideas across time. It’s a way of working through our own experiences, of making sense of the world.