Abandoned 1930

Arthur Briscoe made this etching, "Abandoned," showing a ship and polar bears using a process of scratching lines into a metal plate. The whole scene is rendered in a kind of grey, built up from hatched lines. Briscoe's lines have this fantastic quality – they're not just describing, they're also creating a mood. Look at the way he suggests the water. It’s like the sea is made of tiny, nervous strokes, giving the impression of constant movement, and danger. And then, those bears! They are so solid, but made of the same tentative marks. Think of someone like Rembrandt, how he used etching to explore light and shadow, but Briscoe brings in a kind of storytelling, maybe like Winslow Homer. There’s a bleakness here, but also a strange beauty in this silent encounter, this drama of survival. It’s about the push and pull of nature, and the marks that somehow bring it all to life.