Gezicht op Amsterdam met huizen in aanbouw 1892 - 1928

Johannes Löhr's "Gezicht op Amsterdam met huizen in aanbouw" is a tiny etching, just a few inches tall, made sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's a flurry of dark lines, scribbling out a cityscape in the making. You can almost feel the artist standing there, squinting, trying to capture the scene's essence with the most economical of marks. I imagine him, rapidly scratching the plate, trying to keep up with the changing light. It’s like he’s wrestling with the buildings. The texture is amazing. Look at how he renders the sky – a light, almost nervous scratching. Then there are the buildings, solid blocks defined by sharp, confident lines. And the cranes – so delicate, like spiderwebs against the heavy architecture. I can see the influence of artists like Whistler or even Piranesi in the raw, almost brutal, energy of the lines. It’s unfinished, sure, but there’s a raw immediacy here, a snapshot of a city growing, changing, right before your eyes.