To Bellot 1915

Auguste-Louis Lepère made "To Bellot" using etching, here at the Art Institute of Chicago. There’s a real sense of process here, you can feel Lepère thinking through the image one line at a time. The texture! It’s all about the surface, isn’t it? Look closely and you'll see how he builds up these areas of intense visual information using only line. Check out the foliage to the left of the building. It’s a dense, dark mass, yet somehow it’s also light and airy. Lepère captures this effect by varying the pressure of his marks. The varying tones create a lushness. It reminds me a little of some of Whistler's etchings, but maybe with a bit more narrative detail and storytelling. Ultimately, I think Lepère gives us a reminder that art is always a conversation, with the artist as the medium.