Schepen op het IJ in Amsterdam 1888 - 1934

This is "Schepen op het IJ in Amsterdam" by Willem Adrianus Grondhout, made as an etching. What strikes me about it is the way he's embraced the scrappy, accidental nature of the medium. It’s all about lines here; cross-hatching building up tone, creating a world from what are essentially just scratches on a surface. I am drawn to the dome in the background, it’s almost like a mirage emerging from the city. The dome is depicted through very fine parallel lines, which gives the impression of a blurred shape, like something seen through a rainy window. The whole piece feels immediate and process-oriented, like Grondhout was working directly from life, capturing the scene as it unfolded before him. It reminds me of some of James McNeill Whistler's etchings, that same interest in capturing a fleeting moment, the atmosphere of a place, without getting bogged down in fussy details. And like Whistler, Grondhout shows us that sometimes it's the imperfections, the quirks, that make a work of art truly sing.