Atlas 1908

Oluf Hartmann made this etching, called 'Atlas,' sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. It’s a small print, dominated by dark, velvety blacks and grays, with this looming figure struggling against the weight of… something. I like to imagine Hartmann working on this plate, pushing and pulling, wiping away ink, testing and re-testing the tones. It’s hard to get those blacks just right in a print, you know? This is a brooding piece and I feel the artist pushing into the darkness, trying to give form to a figure hunched under an invisible load. The surface is pretty smooth and the figure sort of emerges from the shadows. Maybe this Atlas is also a self-portrait—an allegory of the artist? I think about other artists from this time, like Munch, wrestling with the same kinds of themes. There's something about this print that feels like it's participating in a bigger conversation. It's as if artists are in dialogue across time, inspiring each other to see and feel in new ways, right?