Schip op zee bij mist 1928

Lodewijk Schelfhout created this etching titled 'Ship at Sea in the Mist', sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It is an image that plays with atmospheric perspective, suggesting great distance through subtle gradations of tone. Schelfhout was working in a Netherlands undergoing rapid modernization, a fact that many artists responded to by turning to the past. Indeed, marine painting has a long history in Dutch art, recalling the country's former glory as a naval power. However, this print seems to offer a more ambivalent image. We can appreciate the artist's technical skill in capturing the misty atmosphere, but the image perhaps also evokes a sense of isolation. What are the politics of such imagery? Was the artist self-consciously conservative in his aesthetic choices? These are the questions that social historians try to answer by immersing themselves in the visual culture of the time.