Print 1744

Editor: We're looking at "Print," an etching by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich from 1744, here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The tones are so soft, it gives the scene a hazy, dreamlike quality. What strikes you most about this landscape? Curator: That hazy quality...it reminds me of half-remembered fairytales. See how Dietrich softens the lines? It invites your imagination to fill in the gaps, almost as if the scene exists more in memory than reality. The classical urn smack dab in the middle also evokes the ruins from some pastoral long lost – maybe one we never really knew to begin with? Editor: Yes! And it almost feels like there is some type of performance. Look closely – are those figures gathered near the tree on the left? It's hard to say with so little detail. Curator: Perhaps. Or are we the performers, placing ourselves into the stage the artist has set? Notice how the landscape unfolds in layers, drawing your eye deeper and deeper. It is a lesson in contrasts. Look at the strong lines of the architecture contrasted against the softness of the leaves. It is a bit unsettling, don’t you think? Editor: A little. I’d be fascinated to know the story behind those distant figures. The scene as a whole feels heavy with possibilities. Curator: Ah, yes. That invitation to project…isn’t that what art, at its best, really is? And etchings from this era capture it perfectly.