Penzance 1913

James McBey made this etching, Penzance, with ink on paper. I can imagine McBey down at the harbor, squinting in the salty air, trying to capture all of this detail, all of the masts and rigging and the reflections on the water... It's a very busy scene, but he's handled it with such delicate lines. Look at the sky, how he's suggested the clouds with just a few wispy strokes. I wonder if he was thinking of Whistler, who was also a master of etching? McBey has captured the mood of the place so well; you can almost smell the sea. I love the way the reflections in the water are almost as detailed as the objects themselves. There's a sense of movement and life that makes the scene feel very real and immediate. I think that’s what connects all artists across time, that urge to capture something of life, to share their way of seeing and experiencing the world.