Hendrik Glintenkamp, born Augusta, NJ - Street, Granada - 1922 - T-Shirt

A bustling Spanish street in Granada comes alive in this 1922 woodcut, built from stark black lines and cream open space.

Visual Elements & Composition

Black dominates the print, filling roughly three-fifths of the image, with cream carrying most of the remaining space and small patches of white in the sky. The scene is set on a diagonal perspective that pulls the eye down the street toward the stone bridge arching over water. Townhouses with balconies line the route, and a church tower capped by an onion dome rises above the rooftops. Two pedestrians walk the street, and a figure in a hat stands at the right edge. Striated clouds band the upper sky, and the rectangular panel is cut with bold, graphic marks that give the buildings and figures their weight.

Meaning & Symbolism

Hendrik Glintenkamp (1887–1946) made this image during his travels abroad, and it records the architecture and daily rhythm of a historic Spanish city. The bridge, balconies, and domed tower mark Granada's distinct character, set against the crowded, lived-in street. The work belongs to the early twentieth-century tradition of American travel art, where artists brought back close observations of European life. Glintenkamp was known for his contributions to American modernism across painting and printmaking, and this woodcut shows that interest in community, movement, and place.

Crafted for the Wearer

A woodcut reads best at a distance, where its black masses and open cream spaces resolve into a full street. Across a tee, the scene sits on the chest as a single panel, so the bridge, the balconies, and the figures stay in view as you move through your day. The composition's diagonal pull and dense black passages suit a shirt that is worn and seen from the front, letting the 1922 street remain the focus of the piece.