Aanbidding door de herders 1890 - 1933

Wolbartus Brouwer made this print, Aanbidding door de herders, sometime between 1880 and 1933 using etching. There's a real sense of the artist digging in, getting his hands dirty with the medium. Look at the variations of the black and white areas, some dense and some more sparse, how the mark making evokes a sense of depth and shadow. The scene is set in what appears to be a stable or barn, rendered with heavy, almost clumsy lines, giving it a raw, immediate feel. See the way the light seems to emanate from the central figures, the new family? Around them, there’s a dense network of lines, scratched and hatched to create shadow. Brouwer’s work reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz who made prints with social and political messages, full of emotion. Like her, Brouwer's work invites us to contemplate the complexities of human experience. There are no easy answers here, just a recognition of the shared human condition.