Monniksgieren 1915

This monochromatic print of vultures was made by Bernard Willem Wierink, but when? It feels timeless, doesn't it? I imagine Wierink hunched over a plate, his hand moving with a scratchy urgency, carving out these feathered figures from the darkness. See the textures he’s achieved with such simple means: the soft, downy feathers around the bird's chest versus the sharp, almost metallic sheen of their beaks. I can relate to the intense focus it must have taken, the back and forth between observation and invention. Has he seen a lot of vultures? Or perhaps only a single vulture that stayed with him? It reminds me of other printmakers, like Dürer, wrestling with line and form to capture the essence of their subjects. There’s a conversation happening here across centuries, a dialogue between artists trying to make sense of the world, one mark at a time. Painting, or printmaking, is an ongoing conversation that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.