The City (wordless novel)

Frans Masereel (1889–1972)^[1] was born in Blankenberge, Belgium. His stepfather's political beliefs left an impression on the young Masereel, who often accompanied him in socialist demonstrations. Masereel left to study art on his own in Paris^[1] and volunteered as a translator for the Red Cross in Geneva during World War I. He drew newspaper political cartoons, and copublished a journal in which he published his first woodcut prints.^[2] In 1918 he created the book of woodcuts to feature a narrative, 25 Images of a Man's Passion,^[3] which he followed with Passionate Journey (1919),^[2] The Sun (1919), Story Without Words (1920), and The Idea (1920).^[4]

Unlike many of Masereel's other books, The City does not follow the unraveling of a plot. Instead, a series of images of life in a big city are on display, showing people from different backgrounds and stages of life: a state funeral, the inside of a poor family's home, a woman's lifeless body dragged out of a canal, prostitutes and entertainers, courtrooms and factories.^[5] It opens with a figure seated on a grassy hill staring at the smokestacked cityscape before him^[6] and closes with a solitary woman staring from her attic into a star-filled sky.^[5]

The visuals bear a strong German Expressionist influence—what critic Lothar Lang [de] describes as "the pictorial vocabulary of Expressionism". Masereel shared with the Expressionists a fondness for the woodcut, though he rejected such labeling of his work.^[5] Freed from the needs of plot Masereel was free to focus on individual images to express his vision of the city.^[7]