Beer (Bruun) en vos (Reinaert) Possibly 1909

Bernard Willem Wierink made this print, Beer (Bruun) en vos (Reinaert), using some kind of printing process. It has a very limited palette, basically one color, a warm beige, which lets you focus on the forms and the process. The whole thing feels kind of ghostly, like an echo of an image. I'm super interested in how the texture of the print is created, especially within the two rectangular shapes at the bottom. You can see this web of tiny marks, like maybe he dabbed the ink on with a sponge or a textured cloth? It’s a subtle thing, but it gives the whole image this pulsating, almost dreamlike quality. It’s a great example of how the physical process of artmaking can totally shape the emotional impact of a work. The feeling in this piece is similar to James Ensor's prints – that slightly weird, theatrical vibe, like figures in a half-remembered play. And I love that, it reminds us that art is always in conversation, echoing and reinterpreting ideas across time.