Ragdale Hall 1931 - 1935

This is F. L. Griggs' "Ragdale Hall", an etching printed on paper, and it really sings to me of the process of looking. The lines are so delicate, almost hesitant, like he's feeling his way around the subject. I'm drawn to the way Griggs uses line to create depth. Look at how the etching creates a world of texture. The graffito style lines of the graveyard at the front fade into this rather imposing manor house in the background. It's like he's scratching away at the surface, revealing the image bit by bit. The sky is barely there, just a suggestion of light, and the figures are almost ghostly. The lines that make up the right hand building closest to the 'present' feel more confident, somehow, and so make me think about perspective, and how we come closer to things by looking more closely. It reminds me a little of Piranesi's architectural prints, that same sense of grandeur and decay. It's all about atmosphere, and about how we perceive space and time.