Kathedraal van Reims 1990s

This is Paul Emile Placet’s print of the Kathedraal van Reims, made using etching. You can see the cathedral looming, spiky, and gothic. I can imagine Placet outside, maybe with a folding stool and a big copper plate, layering lines, scraping back, and trying to get a sense of this building, of this place. Etching can be a real labor of love, and it is a conversation between the artist, the plate, and the acid! He’s wrestling with the architecture, with its ornate façade and rose window. I wonder if he was thinking about time, and light, and maybe even mortality. You know, the weight of history pressing down! It's interesting how he uses the rooftops of the surrounding buildings to emphasize the cathedral’s mass and height. This print reminds me of Piranesi and his etchings of Rome. Artists are always riffing on each other, borrowing and stealing. I love how Placet gives us not just a building, but a whole world of feeling.