Arbeider bij een vuur 1904

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this print of a worker by a fire, using etching techniques. The composition relies on a monochrome palette to generate a moody atmosphere. If you look closely at the marks, they are applied in layers of fine cross hatching. See how this technique is used to model the figure, describing its volume and form, but also its texture, the weight of the fabric of his clothes. The light coming from the fire not only illuminates the scene but casts the figure in an ethereal glow. There's something about the contrast between the worker's solidity and the ethereal nature of the light that reminds me of Whistler's nocturnes, where solid forms emerge from misty, atmospheric backgrounds. Of course, this is also reminiscent of the social realism of the period, where the working classes take on an almost mythological scale. Ultimately, Holst's image strikes me as an intersection between Symbolism, Realism and the formal concerns of etching.