Lezende vrouw in een bibliotheek 1906

This drypoint etching made by François Courboin depicts a woman reading in a library. It's from 1906. The drypoint technique involves scratching directly onto the plate which means the image is built up with a mass of lines. Imagine Courboin, bent over the plate, carefully scoring the metal and wiping away the burr as he went. See how the lines coalesce to create shadow and form. I can imagine him pondering the dress of the woman. The way the fabric might fold and fall. How do you capture the fleeting effects of light and shadow with just a few deft strokes? Maybe he was thinking about Whistler’s etchings as he worked. There’s such an intimacy to it; an immediacy that you don’t get in a painting. I suppose that’s why printmakers are like painters; always riffing off each other, borrowing and stealing ideas across time. It’s a conversation really, a constant exchange.