Gezicht van de Waalseilandsgracht op de Bantammerbrug in Amsterdam c. 1913

Willem Witsen made this print of the Waalseilandsgracht on the Bantammerbrug in Amsterdam using etching, a process of scratching into a metal plate and using acid to 'draw' the lines. It's a gray day, and the scene rendered in variations of brown and grey. Can you see the tree's skeletal arms reaching up, or the reflections shimmering on the water's surface? I can almost feel the cool, damp air of Amsterdam in this image. I wonder what Witsen was thinking as he made this. Did he feel the tug of the city's history, the weight of its stories? I can imagine him carefully layering the tones to create depth, watching the acid bite into the metal, revealing the image bit by bit. There's something so intimate about the etching process, isn't there? It's like a conversation between the artist and the material, a slow revealing of a world. And the best part is, we get to join in on that conversation, each of us bringing our own perspective to the table.