Jaipur, Evening, No. 2 1913

Ernest Stephen Lumsden made this print, Jaipur, Evening, No. 2, using etching, to document his travels. The sepia tones give it a kind of hazy, nostalgic feeling, like a memory fading at the edges. Look at the ways he used tiny, precise lines to build up the image – it’s all about the process. You can see the meticulous work in the details of the architecture and in the bustling crowd. Each stroke feels deliberate, like he’s slowly uncovering the scene before our eyes. It’s like a form of meditation, right? See the elephants carved into the building facade and the camels in the street below? They almost look like ghostly apparitions. The image reminds me a little of Whistler's etchings of Venice, though Lumsden brings his own sensibility to this scene, with a more direct, documentary approach.