Yarmouth, Isle of Wight 1920

Muirhead Bone captured Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, in an etching where the marks feel like a dance of observation. He’s really letting us see the world in strokes. The material quality here is all about line. The etching needle digs in and around, pulling up the light. Look at the way Bone describes the boats; they aren’t precious but full of wobbly, confident strokes. The texture is almost like a memory of a place, a shorthand for the real, bustling port. See how he scratches in the masts and rigging, so that they almost vibrate against the stillness of the water. Bone’s prints make me think of Whistler’s, that same love for the grittiness of urban and coastal life. It’s like they both understood that art doesn't always have to shout, sometimes it can whisper and still leave you with something profound.