Oerwoud op Java 1902 - 1906

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this etching, Oerwoud op Java, or Jungle in Java, in 1902. The composition is energized by the mark-making. The individual lines don't sit still; they wiggle and create volume, and suggest a mysterious and somewhat overwhelming space. The overall texture feels rich; the artist has a real mastery of the etching process. It's fascinating how the density of marks in the lower half of the print give way to the more open sky. Zooming in, notice the way Nieuwenkamp varies the thickness and direction of his lines. The composition emerges slowly. I'm reminded of Odilon Redon's prints, but there's also something very distinctive about Nieuwenkamp's vision. He takes us into a world that feels at once real and dreamlike, and which doesn't offer any easy answers.