The Promise 1920

This etching, The Promise, by Hans Meid, has this wonderful tight, wiry, scratchy way of describing form. You can almost imagine him hunched over the plate, carefully layering these marks to create a sense of depth and texture, as if he is trying to conjure up a whole world in miniature. I love the almost frantic energy in the marks that make up the trees, contrasting with the stillness of the figure in the background. He's standing there with arms crossed, while the landscape around him seems to be almost vibrating with life. What is he waiting for? What is the promise? Maybe the promise is the scene itself. It reminds me of other German Expressionist prints. Artists who saw the potential in the medium for conveying intense emotion and psychological depth. It's like they were all in conversation, bouncing ideas off each other, pushing the boundaries of what printmaking could do. It's exciting to think that these artists continue to speak to us across time, urging us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.