Coming Storm 1917

Artist: There’s a haunting, scratchy quality to this print, isn’t there? Gives you the feeling of the ocean just before it chews you up and spits you out. Art Historian: Absolutely. What grabs me first is the composition. This etching, created by Philip Little in 1917, plunges us right into that moment. You feel the weight and pressure, but also something spiritual. Artist: Philip Little, you say? Funny, I’ve never run into his work before, which is probably just my own ignorance, but, wow, this has real punch! Did they name the work for a reason? I’m sort of mesmerized by how heavy the dark parts feel... I bet he spent ages with it. Art Historian: Given its title, "Coming Storm," those heavy blacks and oppressive cloud cover aren’t accidental. The artist uses potent symbolism—boats representing journeys, and the impending storm standing for trials of life, especially relevant when this work was created in 1917, amidst so much global turmoil. Artist: Yeah, knowing its time changes the vibe somehow. Everything on the brink… it all reflects! Art Historian: It's almost a prophetic image in that sense. Visually, there's an element of threat conveyed, the lowering skies suggesting nature's volatile moods but perhaps also foreshadowing a sense of unavoidable fate. This ties to enduring symbols in art where dark water has, for eons, represented unconscious feelings and primordial forces. Artist: And the scale adds to the tension. By choosing something intimate, something we have to look in really close for—it's a trick. Like a warning we nearly miss! The thing looks delicate, even kind of unassuming from a distance. The waves even. Look how fragile the lines seem down at the surface—amazing! I love how deceptive that becomes, up close. I keep wanting to just wipe it clear, like frost. Art Historian: This speaks volumes about the artist's technique. Little wasn't just depicting a storm; he was capturing an atmospheric and emotional reality. We carry this artwork forward with us, adding our personal readings, shaped as we view through the lens of cultural memory, which never stops developing and layering! Artist: And to think, all this feeling captured on a modest print. I am leaving changed!