Zicht op een kasteel aan het water 1923

This aquatint titled 'Zicht op een kasteel aan het water' was made by Jean Emile Laboureur. You can see how the castle emerges through the etching lines. The work is a process, a conversation between the artist and the plate, the acid, and the paper. The material aspect is all about the subtle play of light and shadow achieved through the layering of tiny etched lines. The texture is smooth, but the image is rich with detail, with the density of the marks varying to create depth and atmosphere. The tree on the left, a big, billowing cloud of foliage, is full of life with its scribbled texture. It’s all about how these individual marks come together to form a cohesive image, a world that we can step into and explore. This feels very much in line with the work of artists like James McNeill Whistler, who were similarly interested in capturing the atmospheric effects of light and shadow through etching.