Nicol's Farm 1925

Paul Drury made this etching on paper, called Nicol's Farm. It's monochromatic, all blacks and whites and grays, made of thousands of tiny lines, like a million little scratches, that together create a picture of a very cluttered farm. I like how Drury piles up the marks, a frenzy of tiny, angled strokes, and how this accumulation brings the farmyard into being. I imagine Drury hunched over the plate, squinting, his hand cramping, as he scratches away, slowly building up the image through sheer labor. What was he thinking about as he made this? Was he trying to capture the essence of rural life? The way that the water reflects the buildings makes the scene seem like it's in a dream. The pigs rooting in the stream seem content. It’s this quiet and intense form of mark-making that echoes across time, inspiring so many artists to express their own experiences and perspectives. It gives us another way of seeing and experiencing the world. It is so beautiful.