Trafalgar Square 1895 - 1910

Etha Fles made this etching of Trafalgar Square, and when I look at it, I get a sense of this place existing in a kind of silvery, spectral half-light. It's so delicate, as if she barely touched the plate, allowing the image to emerge like a memory. See how the network of lines suggests the bare trees and the solid monument, dissolving into the atmosphere. She has given us something both solid and intangible. You get the sense she responded to Whistler, perhaps, or even Sickert. I imagine her, bundled up against the cold, sketching quickly, trying to capture the essence of the place. I see her wiping the plate, reapplying acid, testing, and retesting. And I am thinking about how artists look, and look again, learning from one another, borrowing ideas and motifs across time and place. Painting is like this; an ongoing conversation. It’s not just about what we see but how we feel and remember, something hazy, fleeting, and utterly personal.