Pier in een rivier 1862 - 1901

Curator: This is “Pier in een rivier” which roughly translates to "Pier in a River". Jules Guiette probably made the etching somewhere between 1862 and 1901. It's a classic, realistically rendered cityscape. Editor: It’s terribly melancholy, isn't it? Like a quiet, gray sigh. Curator: I can see that. It's interesting how Guiette focuses on these skeletal trees and this rather dilapidated pier... Editor: The bare trees especially grab my eye; they're so fragile-looking. They symbolize, for me anyway, a state of transition. They seem almost hopeful reaching toward something new. I love it when bare trees appear in an artwork—so hopeful after enduring winter. The river offers a visual rhyme with its fluidity—both reach for a new beginning. Curator: The etching medium adds to that atmosphere, wouldn't you say? That delicate line work that's almost hazy around the edges. Notice those factories faintly outlined on the horizon too? A blend of nature and industry. Editor: Oh, yes, barely there and very potent as a symbol. Industry so faint hints that memory is still potent but receding from modern attention. Like a distant industrial siren. I imagine this river served as an essential waterway, witnessing commerce and transportation over generations. Curator: Precisely. It invites contemplation about nature's endurance, the ebb and flow of industry, and the passage of time itself, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. The old pier could even symbolize fading aspirations, or abandoned dreams and lost potential perhaps—the rotting posts reflecting like tears. Thank you, Guiette! A powerful emblem of human impermanence, nature and modernity always wrestling in their own ways, expressed simply and profoundly in muted greys. Curator: Thank you! Hopefully everyone feels they are bringing home with them from Guiette's perspective a small piece of this eternal struggle after seeing his moving rendering today.