Zicht op het eiland Marken 1900 - 1911

This is an etching by Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp, an artist who seems to have been constantly on the move, looking for new landscapes and vistas. This one, 'View of the Island of Marken', is a slice of a world seen through the eyes of someone passing through, with dry marks that almost feel like a diagram or a map. I particularly like the way the light seems to be both present and absent, hovering between clarity and a kind of faded memory. The scratchy lines create a texture that feels both delicate and robust, a bit like the weather-beaten buildings themselves. The houses, huddled together, are each given their own character through the variation in mark making. And look at the barest hint of figures to the right of the image. They feel so fragile, so fleeting. What they are doing? Who are they? It is that ambiguity which I find myself drawn back to. In a way, this piece reminds me of work by an artist like Giorgio Morandi, who found endless possibilities in very humble subjects.