En landsbygade 1907

This is "En landsbygade" (A Village Street), an etching made by Arvid Aae sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. It's all in shades of gray, a web of tiny lines and tones that give you the feeling of a specific place, on a specific cloudy day. I wonder about Aae, bent over the plate, coaxing out the image. It’s like he’s thinking aloud, making the plate into a mirror of his mind. The lines almost feel like hesitations, little adjustments to get the values just right, and the image as a whole has a strange sense of stillness. This reminds me of other Scandinavian painters like Hammershoi, that interest in ordinary views. As a painter, you're always in conversation with other image-makers, dead or alive. Trying to one-up them, borrow from them, or reject them. That's how styles get made, and unmade, over time. It’s nice to remember the chain of creative thoughts that keep art alive, even after the artist is gone.