Boerderij bij Voorburg 1888 - 1934

Willem Adrianus Grondhout made this etching of a farmhouse near Voorburg. Look at these etched lines: they are the bones of the image, shaky but strong. You know, sometimes I think about all those artists in the past, hunched over, inking plates, wiping them down, pressing them onto paper. What did they think about as they worked? What were their dreams and frustrations? I imagine Grondhout wanted to capture the feeling of this place: its quietness. But in a print, the lines have to do so much work; they have to suggest everything. The etching almost feels like a memory, doesn’t it? A fragment of a place, a moment in time. But the details remain: the rough textures of the farmhouse, the shadows gathering in the doorway. It's like a conversation between the artist and the world.