Varken (Pig) - Julie de Graag

A minimalist woodcut by Dutch artist Julie de Graag, featuring a stark, graphic silhouette of a pig in profile.

Julie de Graag was a Dutch artist associated with the Hague School and later, the development of a distinct, graphic style influenced by Symbolism. Her work often features animals and rural subjects rendered with extreme economy of form. This woodcut, titled Varken, demonstrates her ability to reduce a subject to its essential silhouette. By employing a stark contrast between the white of the paper and the black ink, she creates a bold, graphic image that prioritises shape over anatomical detail.

The pig is depicted in profile, standing on a suggestion of grass. The composition is contained within a rectangular border, which reinforces the flat, decorative quality of the print. De Graag was known for her technical precision in woodcutting, a medium that requires careful planning to achieve such clean lines. Her approach avoids unnecessary ornamentation, focusing instead on the clarity of the outline and the balance of positive and negative space. This print is characteristic of her later period, where she moved away from more traditional painterly techniques toward a more modern, simplified aesthetic.

Her work often reflects a quiet observation of the natural world. By stripping away the background and extraneous detail, she forces the viewer to engage directly with the form of the animal. The resulting image is direct and unadorned, reflecting the artist's interest in the graphic potential of the woodcut medium. This piece is a fine example of early twentieth-century Dutch printmaking, where artists sought to modernise traditional crafts through a disciplined, minimalist approach to subject matter.