The poverty of riches: on the woodcuts of Andrea Büttner

This article examines the woodcuts of Andrea Büttner (b.1972) through an engagement with three solo exhibitions presented between 2011 and 2023. It identifies the tension between poverty and richness as the key animating dynamic. This is explored on several different registers: in terms of the medium of woodcut itself, of affirmative claims for voluntary poverty in aesthetic and theological traditions and in relation to how the privileged world of art relates to real-world poverty. The discussion of ‘Table’ (2010) connects Franciscan traditions and post-war Italian art with debates concerning austerity and social provision. The ‘Beggar’ series (2015–16), first exhibited alongside ‘Phone Etchings’ (2015), is examined in relation to shame, visibility and the artist’s dependence on viewers. The ‘Harvester’ woodcuts (2020–21) bring artistic production into uncomfortable relation with migrant agricultural labour during the COVID-19 pandemic. By attending to exhibition arrangements and accompanying publications, the article traces how these contexts shape the significance of particular works. Finally, it proposes the parable as a model for thinking about Büttner’s negotiation of historical models, everyday motifs and formal repetitions in relation to poverty, inequality and the social position of art.