Mooring Her 1927

Arthur Briscoe made this print called ‘Mooring Her’ using etching, a process that involves scratching into a metal plate. The marks create a network of lines; it’s like he’s built the whole scene up with tiny scratches. The figures pulling the ropes are rendered with a beautiful economy of line, really conveying their strength and the strain in their bodies. There's a real sense of atmosphere, a grittiness, even. The detail in the ropes, the way they twist and coil, it’s almost sculptural. I like to zoom in on these small passages; it reminds me that artworks are made from the accumulation of many tiny decisions, one on top of the other. You can see a relationship to Whistler in the tonal values and subject matter here. Both were fascinated by the working river, the docks, and the lives of ordinary people, and the way they found beauty in the everyday is very moving. Ultimately, art is about how we see, how we connect, and the conversations we have across time.