Sloot in de Binckhorst in Den Haag 1888 - 1934

Willem Adrianus Grondhout made this etching called 'Sloot in de Binckhorst in Den Haag', though we don't know exactly when. Look how the lines are used to suggest depth and texture, like the scratchy, bare trees in the foreground against the buildings further back. It's like he's feeling his way through the scene, line by line. The etching is full of subtle details. The contrast between the rough textures of the foreground and the more refined shapes of the buildings creates a kind of visual tension, doesn't it? And there's a real physicality to those lines; you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the plate. I am drawn to the marks in the bottom left of the page, the subtle shading that gives way to blank space. I wonder what kind of tool he used to achieve that level of nuance. There's something about Grondhout's way of seeing that reminds me of Whistler, in how he captures a sense of atmosphere and mood with such economy of means. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation with itself, echoing and reinventing ideas across time.