Gracht bij regenachtig weer 1892 - 1937

Hendrik Henrichs made this etching called Gracht bij regenachtig weer, or Canal in Rainy Weather, using ink and a metal plate, to capture a wet day. The whole thing shimmers and wavers, doesn't it? It feels like a memory, or the ghost of a place. Henrichs lets his lines build up into little nests of dark and light, and that gives the picture a pulsating energy. If you look closely at the figure in the foreground, you can see how the scratchy lines around her are like a blur, suggesting movement, or maybe the way rain distorts our vision. The artist isn’t trying to give us a perfect, photographic rendering, but something much more poetic. This reminds me of Whistler’s etchings of London, with their misty atmospheres and quiet beauty. Both artists find a kind of melancholic charm in the everyday. And that’s what art can do, right? Show us the world in a new way, full of possibilities and feelings.