The Fish Market, Venice - No. 2 1915

Muirhead Bone made this etching of the Fish Market in Venice, and right away what strikes me is the dance between light and dark. It's all lines, really, hatching and cross-hatching building up the form, like a slow, careful construction. There’s a particular spot, near the bottom left, where those dark lines really clump together, creating this shadowy mass, and I love how it contrasts with the airiness elsewhere. It's not just about seeing what's there, it's about feeling the weight of the place, the coolness of the stone. You can almost smell the sea and the fish. Bone reminds me a little of Piranesi, the way he uses architecture to create these dramatic, almost theatrical spaces. But while Piranesi is all about grandeur and spectacle, Bone brings a certain humanness to it all, a sense of everyday life unfolding within these monumental spaces. For Bone, like for me, art is a conversation, an ongoing exploration, and always open to interpretation.