"For Whose Sake" is a block print piece about grief and the sacrifice of a loved one, focusing on a knight and the one he loves most. My print was inspired by artist Käthe Kollwitz for her use of shading and themes of grief, as well as Frans Masereel for how he tells a narrative in his art without the need of text to explain. The knight questions whether if the sacrifice was for his or his loved one's sake, or if the action he took was one that meant nothing.
InspirationKäthe Kollwitz
Kollwitz's use of heavy shading on the face was something I wanted to use in my piece. Her shading gives a dramatic feel and adds balance to the piece, evening the amount of positive and negative space. The central theme is about loss and mourning, and the sacrifices made for a goal such as war. The subjects depicted are holding someone, intimate in their grief. The pieces were made as a way of Kollwitz's expression of grief, due to her son Peter dying in WWII. |
Frans Masereel
I was inspired by Masereel's way of narrative storytelling. He doesn't require words to tell what his art is about -- he lets it speak for itself and for the viewer to interpret. While Masereel's narratives are more political in nature, my theme was more so emotionally-driven. I also liked his use of line, and thought they would be nice to try to incorporate into my art. In "The Sun", I was inspired by how the sun added more detail and decided to use that as a border in my print. The sun adds an interesting element, overlapping some of the lines and coming into the room physically. |
Planning
The idea I knew I wanted to do revolved around grief, but I didn't have a solid idea as to what to draw until I thought about the idea of knights. Knights, typically, are associated with bravery, holiness, and the idea of protecting the ones they serve or care about, their duty. I thought it would be interesting to take that idea in a more solemn tone, for a knight to kill the one he loves because of duty or simply because it would be for the best -- but he questions his actions and laments his loss. There's an internal conflict, his decision one that he can't come back from.
I started by drawing out the expression of the knight, since it's one of the focuses of the print and important to tell the story I had in mind. I kept the sun border simple. The features of the other knight, the one being killed, would be relatively obscured by shadow to keep it simpler for me and to balance the space. The sword stabbing into the body was vital as well to the piece, because it tells the viewer that the knight himself was the one who committed the deed, guilty of his loved one's death. |
I drew more of the body out on the top left sketch, intending to make it somewhat similar to Kollwitz's "The Widow I", with how the person being mourned is held. I also drew the knight's head close to his loved one's, to show that connection and make it so that he was comforting the other. I wanted the sun border to be carved out and white, because of the symbolization of white as a pure color.
I made a second alternative sketch, which looked nice, but didn't convey the same meaning I wanted. While the pose was more intimate, I felt like it lost that meaning of sacrifice. It felt like the knight hadn't killed the one he cared about, rather someone else did. The first sketch I did was clearer on the theme of sacrifice instead, and was the one I went with. |
Adding hair shine would give more detail to my block print and reduce the amount of negative space in the hair. Without it, the hair would look more flat and less interesting to view, and would blend in with the background too much.
The final sketch was me putting all of the concepts I liked together into one singular piece. I liked how the sketch looked, and this was the reference I used on my carving block. Shading was there to remind myself what I was going to carve and keep. |
Process
I sketched my image onto the board, and began to cut out the sun border first. It was a way of figuring out how to carve and was the safest option in case I messed up. It didn't take me too long to figure out how to carve, and I was able to get the hang of it after seeing what to avoid and how much pressure I should put on the tool.
On the right was after I had carved mostly everything I needed to, and I added some things that weren't on my sketch because I felt like it would be more interesting. |
After obtaining all of the tools I needed, I rolled ink onto my board. This allowed me to see clearly what would show onto the paper and I was able to adjust some details here and there. Then I used a baren to apply pressure after laying a paper on top of my board, and transferred the ink onto the paper. I did this process several times with trial and error, finding the prints I liked and didn't.
|
Experimentation
The prints below are me experimenting with the amount of ink I should use. Some of the prints came out patchy, and another came out with some of the lines muddled by ink. I also carved some more, to clean up things or add detail. It was fun to see what would come out of my next print, and whether what I did worked or not.
Critique
Similarities
Kollwitz's pieces and mine both share that same theme of grieving a loved one, and the inspiration pieces I used are both block prints. We use a lot of negative space, with the white positive space to give defining features and details. With Masereel, we both have a narrative going on in our art, a story to be told for the viewer. Both of our pieces include the sun.
Differences
With Kollwitz's "The Widow I", she doesn't include a background of any kind. It's exclusively the mother and the implied image of her son. With mines, I had the sun border for detail and to contrast against a plain black background. The theme of loss in Kollwitz's piece is about a child, a mother's mourning. My piece is more so about a lover or friend of some kind. The difference between Masereel's "The Sun" and my "For Whose Sake" is that Masereel uses more positive space. My art includes more negative space as a way of dramatizing my art with heavier shadows. Our subject matter is quite different as well, seeing as how mine's is more somber while his is less so.
Kollwitz's pieces and mine both share that same theme of grieving a loved one, and the inspiration pieces I used are both block prints. We use a lot of negative space, with the white positive space to give defining features and details. With Masereel, we both have a narrative going on in our art, a story to be told for the viewer. Both of our pieces include the sun.
Differences
With Kollwitz's "The Widow I", she doesn't include a background of any kind. It's exclusively the mother and the implied image of her son. With mines, I had the sun border for detail and to contrast against a plain black background. The theme of loss in Kollwitz's piece is about a child, a mother's mourning. My piece is more so about a lover or friend of some kind. The difference between Masereel's "The Sun" and my "For Whose Sake" is that Masereel uses more positive space. My art includes more negative space as a way of dramatizing my art with heavier shadows. Our subject matter is quite different as well, seeing as how mine's is more somber while his is less so.
Reflection
Personally I liked the idea I chose for my print, and it turned out well enough. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea I had that developed into something more, and with my inspiration helped to turn itself into a story. I had never done block prints before, so the idea was daunting at first, but I got used to it. Due to being a beginner at carving, it wasn't easy trying to control where the cutting tool went and the small details I had. Käthe Kollwitz's "The Widow I" was my main inspiration piece and personally, I think I did well on showing that inspiration in my print. Our main theme of grief shows clearly, and the heavy shading controls the amount of positive and negative space. The biggest challenge was getting the right amount of ink onto my board, because most of the time it would either be too much or not enough, ending up with spotty parts or blotted sections. Overall, I wanted to be able to show that narrative I planned without it being confusing in any way or being unsatisfactory in it's presentation. My attachment to the idea motivated me to improve on my initial design, and see what more I could do to make it better.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork:
Käthe Kollwitz uses line effectively to create interesting shading that feels dynamic and adds interesting detail, so I wanted to try and replicate that in my print. Frans Masereel's narrative driven pieces inspired my idea and helped me to develop my own.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
For Kollwitz, grief can be all-consuming and hard to deal with, as it is a personal and intimate matter that will always stay.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The sacrifice made for a greater cause can be unnecessary in the end, only causing loss and a sense of guilt.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea is about the sacrifice a knight makes, a decision he comes to regret and grieves over the death of his loved one. In summary, it's about the cost of a life and the resulting anguish that occurs.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Looking at Kollwitz's block prints made me conclude that the careful use of negative and positive space is important to the unity of the piece. Too much negative space leads to an empty looking print, and with too much positive space you can lose detail.
Käthe Kollwitz uses line effectively to create interesting shading that feels dynamic and adds interesting detail, so I wanted to try and replicate that in my print. Frans Masereel's narrative driven pieces inspired my idea and helped me to develop my own.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
For Kollwitz, grief can be all-consuming and hard to deal with, as it is a personal and intimate matter that will always stay.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
The sacrifice made for a greater cause can be unnecessary in the end, only causing loss and a sense of guilt.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea is about the sacrifice a knight makes, a decision he comes to regret and grieves over the death of his loved one. In summary, it's about the cost of a life and the resulting anguish that occurs.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Looking at Kollwitz's block prints made me conclude that the careful use of negative and positive space is important to the unity of the piece. Too much negative space leads to an empty looking print, and with too much positive space you can lose detail.
Citations
Tate. “Käthe Kollwitz 1867–1945.” Tate, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/kathe-kollwitz-26768.
Fultz, Tamara. “Frans Masereel: The First Woodcut Novelist.” Metmuseum.org, The Met, 23 Aug. 2017, https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2017/frans-masereel-woodcut.
Fultz, Tamara. “Frans Masereel: The First Woodcut Novelist.” Metmuseum.org, The Met, 23 Aug. 2017, https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2017/frans-masereel-woodcut.