Boerderijen in een besneeuwd landschap bij Amstelveen 1942

Lodewijk Schelfhout made this etching, "Farms in a Snowy Landscape near Amstelveen," probably in the early 20th century. The landscape is rendered in delicate lines, a blizzard of tiny marks building the scene. Look closely at the swarm of birds overhead. Notice how they are clustered together, and the way Schelfhout suggests their movement with just a few lines. The etching feels both precise and spontaneous. This kind of mark-making mirrors the energy of the flock, as if it was captured mid-flight. The bare trees on the right have a stark, almost brutal quality. They remind me of work by Käthe Kollwitz, though her work is usually more overtly political. The conversation between artists, across time and space, is really amazing, and this piece is another link in that chain. Instead of definitive answers, art gives us new questions, new ways of seeing.