Zeegezicht before 1912

This etching, *Zeegezicht*, was made by Joseph Edouard Van Looy, a tragically short lived artist, working at the end of the 19th century. It’s a scene of the sea, a seascape, made by someone who really looked. Look at the sky and the water: they almost seem like they’re made of the same stuff. Van Looy uses these tiny marks, a kind of shorthand, to build up the image. The surface is alive with small scratches and dashes; it feels kind of like controlled chaos. It’s interesting how he captures the light, making the waves feel both heavy and weightless at the same time. I’m reminded of Whistler, or maybe even some of the earlier etchers like Rembrandt, who used the same techniques to create these incredibly atmospheric scenes. Van Looy died young, but I wonder what he would have gone on to do. There’s a real honesty in this image, a sense of searching, of seeing, that makes it special.