Zwanenburgwal in Amsterdam 1911

Willem Adrianus Grondhout made this etching of Zwanenburgwal in Amsterdam, but we don’t know exactly when. The thing about etching is that it’s all about the line. Look at how Grondhout uses them to create these shadowy, textural surfaces. There’s a real push and pull. Notice how the building almost seems to lean forward, bearing down on the street, and then how the figures in the background become a wash of marks as the street disappears into the distance. The marks on the facade of the building are more distinct and defined, the marks of the figures much more blurred. It’s like the artist is creating a space between the personal and the impersonal. Think of the architectural prints of Piranesi. There’s something of that atmosphere here, a tension between detail and obfuscation, between light and dark.