Figuren op een olifant onder een poort in Madurai 1917

This etching by Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp shows figures on an elephant under a gate in Madurai. The ochre tones create a muted palette, giving the scene a dreamlike quality. I can almost feel the artist standing there, squinting in the Indian sunlight, trying to capture the scene before him. Was it hard to resist adding more, or did he want to keep it lean? I feel like he was trying to find a balance between detail and suggestion. The figures on the elephant are just hinted at, while the architecture of the gate has more definition. There's a softness to the etched lines that blurs the boundary between the figures and their surroundings, and a sense of movement that animates the scene. Nieuwenkamp probably looked at other prints and was maybe inspired by the compositional strategies or stylistic devices used by other artists. You can almost feel a conversation happening across time and space. He embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.