Ida 1905

Anders Zorn created this etching of Ida sometime between 1860 and 1920, conjuring her out of a dark, shadowy space with a network of fine lines. I can imagine Zorn bent over the plate, scratching away with his etching needle, coaxing light out of the darkness. Poor Ida, illuminated by candlelight, looks startled, like a deer caught in headlights. She's sitting in a sea of hatching, a technique where closely spaced parallel lines are used to create tone and texture. There's something really raw about the way Zorn uses these lines; they feel urgent and immediate. You can almost sense his hand moving across the plate, guided by feeling as much as sight. I wonder what was going through his mind as he made this. Was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, a particular mood? Zorn, like other artists, was in conversation with those that came before him, figuring out new ways of seeing and showing the world. There’s something special about the way printmaking embraces ambiguity. It’s not about perfection, but about feeling, intuition, and allowing for multiple interpretations.