Huizenrij 1891 - 1937

This etching, "Huizenrij," by Cornelis van der Sluys, captures a row of houses, somewhere, sometime. I imagine the artist working outdoors, squinting in the sunlight, the acid biting into the plate, and the image slowly emerging through trial, error, and intuition. What was it like to stand there, in front of those buildings, trying to capture their essence? I'm drawn to the way the lines and tones create a sense of depth and atmosphere. The artist is really thinking about mark-making as a process of translating 3D form into 2D space, using hatching and cross-hatching to create a believable space. You can almost feel the stillness of the scene, broken only by the subtle suggestion of movement in the sky. It's a quiet conversation between the artist and the world, and between us and the artist. It makes you wonder about the relationship between the artist, the artwork and the viewer.