On the Thames 1883

Curator: Ah, "On the Thames" by Anders Zorn, an etching on paper created in 1883. You immediately sense the atmospheric perspective in this print. Editor: Yes, a sort of shimmering quality. She seems… lost in thought, yet poised. Almost daring us to guess her secrets floating along with the water lilies. Curator: Indeed. Zorn, of course, became famous for his society portraits. He achieved great commercial success catering to wealthy patrons, painting with a seemingly effortless naturalism. However, this print reveals his grounding in printmaking. The material constraints of etching influence his style. Editor: Look at the confidence of those lines! Such a modern take on the more fussy aesthetic that I might have associated with depictions of ladies by the river at that time. The whole thing trembles with life. You can almost hear the Thames lapping gently. What would it have felt like to be there with them, as a printmaker, perhaps somewhat more akin to labor? Curator: One can assume the artist’s placement gives the subject agency. The textures really intrigue me - that elaborate, fashionable dress... contrasting with the sketchy rendering of the foliage and water. He highlights the means of its construction, not trying to mask the process of creating marks in metal and translating it to paper. The image implies a consumer society and the fashion that society loves. Editor: And what does that fashionable society seek? Ephemeral pleasure on the riverbank. To see her rendered this way, it doesn't so much speak to me about commerce, though, it whispers stories to me. I see myself by that riverside, my hair getting caught in those trees on the water. This scene feels at once still and in constant motion. Curator: A fine point. What one finds when re-engaging with works of this era and class, they tell so many layered stories about the systems we buy into that continue in many forms to the present day. Editor: Ultimately, it speaks to Zorn's great artistic insight that it has left us here pondering those connections now. The print feels just as vivid now as it must have been then. A lasting testament, I suppose!