Modernity vs. Nature: 20th Century Woodcut Prints

Louis Freund was an American artist known for his regional landscapes of the Ozark Mountains.

During the 1930s, he worked as a muralist for the Works Progress Administration while traveling through the Ozarks in the south-central United States .

This print depicts a small house precariously situated near a body of water. A group of trees with wide trunks and bulbous canopies twist in the wind and almost consume the entire house. At the bottom right corner of the composition, a figure in a row boat reaches the sandy shoreline just before the storm hits.

Throughout his work, Freund utilized thick outlines and diagonal compositions in order to create pieces with emotional impact. Freund’s use of striated markings throughout the background of the print emphasize the overwhelming strength of the gathering wind.

Freund has constructed a scene in which humanity and civilization are secondary to the potent power of nature.