Duinlandschap 1886

Curator: The Rijksmuseum holds this remarkable print, titled "Duinlandschap," or "Dune Landscape," created by Elias Stark in 1886. Editor: Stark really captures the desolate beauty, doesn’t he? There's something incredibly textural about this etching, especially how he renders the sky and dunes with these fine, almost frenetic lines. Curator: It's a fantastic example of how Impressionism made its way into printmaking. Landscape painting gained significant social currency at this time and these dunes functioned almost as national emblems, representing a specifically Dutch terrain. Stark's choice of etching democratized access to this landscape imagery through reproducible prints. Editor: Yes, but thinking about the material reality, the time and labor invested in each print. You see how the layers of marks build form. Was this about embracing a certain artistic ethos tied to hand-production, opposing the rise of industrial modes? It feels so tangible, and contrasts greatly with a landscape reproduced at a mass scale, like in photography. Curator: I think there’s something to that. It’s no accident that artists took to printmaking and embraced these types of landscapes in the face of increased urbanization and industrialization, championing pre-industrial techniques that offered a glimpse into regional identity, like here with these Dutch dunes. Editor: There is an evocative relationship that the artist established between nature and making. We can talk about the "Dune Landscape", but maybe also talk about landscape in printmaking, how print media impacted notions of landscape and ways of seeing it. Curator: A fine point. He subtly prompts a reflection on the relationship between the human touch and the vastness of the natural world, as the delicate hand-rendered details come face to face with this overwhelming scene of land, and sky. Editor: I agree. Stark manages to imbue something rather ordinary with an affecting and deeply material weight. Curator: And he achieves a powerful intimacy between viewer and artwork in the process.