Antwerpen 1922

Henri Braakensiek made this etching, Antwerpen, at some point in his career using delicate lines to create a vision of this waterside scene. You can almost feel him there, bending over the plate, scratching away. Looking at this, I think about the way the artist builds up the image, bit by bit, with these tiny marks. See how the lines gather to form the masts and rigging of the ships? I wonder if he was thinking about the old masters, like Rembrandt, who were also masters of etching. There's something timeless about this medium, a conversation between artists across centuries. And the way he captures the light on the water, with just a few strategic strokes – it's like he's conjuring the whole scene out of thin air! It's a reminder that, as artists, we're all in this ongoing dialogue, picking up where others left off, adding our own voices to the chorus.