Berwick-on-Tweed 1906

David Young Cameron made this print, Berwick-on-Tweed, with etching, a process of incising lines on a metal plate with acid. The result is a delicate landscape, where the architecture of the town in the background is mirrored in the arches of the bridge. I can only imagine the artist, a Scotsman, standing in the cold, close to the water, watching boats bobbing as he sketched and studied the scene before him. I see the sensitivity of his lines in the work, and the way he renders the distant buildings with an economy of mark-making. I’m struck by how the buildings are mere suggestions, which allows the artist to play with the light. The sky is almost blank, so that the eye is drawn to the water, dark at the bottom of the picture, then lightening to reflect the sky. These reflections mirror what is above, creating a dialogue between water and air, building and boat, presence and absence.