Memory 1906

John Sloan made this etching, "Memory," using a metal plate. Look at those lines—they seem to scratch their way into the scene, mapping out a memory, a fleeting moment. I can imagine Sloan hunched over the plate, the needle dancing across the surface, trying to capture the mood of this gathering. The scene feels intimate, domestic, like a snapshot of friends or family engaged in their own worlds, yet somehow connected. The woman reading, the man with his cigar—what are they thinking? What’s the relationship between the figures? You know, sometimes I feel like I'm doing the same thing when I paint: trying to pin down an idea, a feeling, but knowing it’s always going to slip away. This work makes me wonder if Sloan also knew that what appears to be solid—memories—are actually always shifting, like in a dream, changing with each recollection.