Une Chimère 1947

This etching, "Une Chimère," was made by John Taylor Arms in 1948. Just imagine his hand moving across the plate, guided by his eye, making thousands of tiny marks, each one building up the image, a kind of slow, deliberate dance. I'm drawn to the gothic imagery of the gargoyle. It’s kind of kooky, right? I can imagine Arms, with his engraver's tools, feeling like an architect himself, carefully reconstructing the chimera’s form. Was he thinking about the original medieval sculptors, their own process of creation? Look at the texture he's created. See how the lines capture the rough, weathered surface of the stone? Each line is full of intention, like a breath held. Arms is not just copying, he’s channeling something deeper.