A Rainy Day 1871 - 1933

Peter Ilsted made this etching called 'A Rainy Day' at some point, and it's an interesting example of how a black and white palette can still suggest a certain kind of atmosphere. Ilsted isn't splashing ink around, but he’s so clearly in control of the tone and texture. Look at the way the light falls across the figures, how it creates these almost photographic shadows on the walls. The surfaces almost seem to shimmer. The composition is like a stage set; everything seems to be pointing towards a narrative, although it remains ambiguous. What do you make of the figures, sat there around the table? They have a domestic quality that evokes Vilhelm Hammershoi, although there is also something of Whistler in the tonal range. Like both of those painters, Ilsted is more interested in the feeling of the room than the specifics. In the end, painting for me, as for Ilsted, is about what we *don't* know, those possibilities that shimmer on the surface.