Bottles 1926

Stanley William Hayter created this print called "Bottles" with etching. It’s a still life, of sorts, but not really. I get a sense that Hayter was thinking about space as much as bottles, the way forms define a composition. There's a lot of scratching and swirling, look at the way the light catches the bottles. I can imagine him working on the plate, scratching into it, testing it, adjusting it, probably multiple times. Printmaking can be a laborious process, which also makes it so rewarding. The artist must have been thinking through Cubism, maybe Braque or Picasso. But he’s also doing his own thing, abstracting forms in a really interesting way. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, borrowing ideas and pushing them further. It shows that art making is a process of discovery, where meaning emerges through the act of creation itself, and the result is not always what you expect.