The Harbor 1913

Joseph Pennell made this image of The Harbor with etching and aquatint. Imagine him, back in the day, lost in the quiet intensity of the studio! Look at the overall blue tone and the details created by the web of etched lines. It’s almost as if the artist is trying to find form in the middle of all the lines, discovering the harbor through the process of describing the etching itself. The harbor scene, with its lighthouses and various vessels, rises from a ground of deep blue, but what really grabs me is how Pennell’s linear strokes convey both a sense of structure and an overall sense of depth. The texture of this image, built up through layers of delicate etching, has something to say about the nature of seeing, evoking the misty atmosphere, and bustling activity of a busy port. Artists like Pennell, like all of us, build upon what they see, what they know, and what they feel, and transform it all into something entirely new.