Oud Blaricummerweg 1905 - 1964

Hendrik Weegewijs made this small etching of Oud Blaricummerweg, or 'Old Blaricum Road,' and what strikes me first is its incredible detail, achieved with such simple means. Look at the trees. The etching allows for these spidery, delicate lines, creating a network of branches against the sky. It’s like he’s mapping out the negative space as much as the trees themselves. The texture of the grass and the suggestion of a path are all built up with these tiny, almost frantic marks. It's easy to imagine Weegewijs hunched over the plate, meticulously building up this image, line by line. You can feel the labor, the slow, deliberate process. There's a quiet intimacy in this piece, reminiscent of other Dutch landscape artists like Rembrandt, who found beauty in the everyday. There is a real sense of embracing the process, finding depth in what at first glance seems like a very humble subject.