View II 1998

Ruth Fine made this small, gray-toned print called View II. It's an etching, so there’s a plate involved, acid, maybe some rosin. I'm imagining Ruth in the studio, wiping the plate, thinking about nature, maybe another printmaker like Giorgio Morandi. Look at the composition: a tree, maybe an apple tree, and a field. The grays are dense and rich, almost velvety. See how the lines of the tree are thin and wiry, like she's scratching into the metal? It’s this incredible dance between control and accident. I wonder if she was thinking about form, or feeling, or both at the same time? I can feel a kinship with her in this process. Making a print is like having a conversation with other artists across time, influencing and echoing one another. It reminds us that art is as much about the process as the final image. It’s about feeling your way through the dark, trusting that something meaningful will emerge.