George and Abe, Transcendent Pair of 1930s Carved Silhouettes vintage hand-painted box and can never get enough--and

and can never get enough--and what a gorgeous field of black crosses against white here

12 1/4" l x 4 1/2" d x 5 1/2" t

it is the work of Leon Hovsepian (1911-2019)

A modernist landscape with a sophisticated sense to how the water cuts through the forest

and hands coming up from below to grab them

George and Abe, Transcendent Pair of 1930s Carved Silhouettes vintage hand-painted box and can never get enough--andFor me, these two quite transcend their origins as carvings made "by pupils" 1937 38, which is what is noted in graphite on their reverse sides, along with the name of the teacher, which is a bit hard to read. I'll give that teacher great credit for leading their students in the exercise of relief carving silhouettes and painting staining them black and white in direct conversation with the hollow cut silhouette of a hundred years prior, and of course