Restless Night - New York City 1940

Mortimer Borne made this etching, Restless Night - New York City, sometime in the 20th century. The image is all about lines—hatch marks really. Borne uses them to describe the city's buildings, and, interestingly, the sky. It makes you think about printmaking as a process of layering, of building up an image bit by bit. The etching has this uncanny atmosphere, like a dream you can't quite shake off. It's there in the contrast between the dark, moody shadows and the bright, almost glaring surfaces. Look at the way he renders the figures on the rooftops—isolated, a little surreal. It's like they're acting out a play, maybe something from German Expressionism. There is this dark line work and exaggerated perspective that can be unsettling. It reminds me a bit of Max Beckmann, but with a distinctly New York flavor. It’s like a city symphony, full of dissonance and strange beauty.