Berglandschap 1892 - 1951

Janus de Winter made this mountain landscape using etching, at an unknown date. The printmaking process itself, with its reliance on acids and pressure, feels almost geological; in this landscape, you get a real sense of the push and pull of the earth’s crust. I’m really drawn to the vertical marks on the central peak. They’re so regular, so regimented. It feels almost architectural – like a city built on a mountainside – or perhaps the striations left by some ancient glacier. You can see how the artist has built up this landscape line by line, each one carefully considered, yet the overall effect is powerful, rugged, even a little bit wild. This piece reminds me of some of the starker woodcuts of someone like Emil Nolde. Both artists share that love of raw, expressive mark-making, of letting the material speak for itself. Art's an ongoing conversation like that, isn't it?