Figuren op een olifant onder een poort in Madurai 1917

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this image of figures on an elephant under a gate in Madurai using etching, a type of printmaking that has this delicate but precise feel. What strikes me is how the color of the ink almost matches the paper, making it feel like a memory drawn from the page. The architecture in the background is amazing, and it has been worked on with very fine lines. Look how it appears to move back in space from the foreground figures on the elephant through to the portal behind. The whole thing feels so light and airy, like a dream of a place rather than a photograph. This print reminds me of drawings by Matisse. Both artists capture the essence of form with a kind of simplicity that makes you feel like you could do it yourself, but you can’t! It is art’s job to embrace this ambiguity, to suggest rather than define, to leave space for our imaginations to play.