Cos Cob Dock 1915

Childe Hassam made this etching called Cos Cob Dock. The image is full of these flickering, feathery lines that build up the scene. I imagine him outside, squinting in the sun. Maybe that’s why the lines are so loose, so scribbly. I love the way etching allows for a kind of searching. Hassam is finding the image through touch, through the physical act of scratching into the plate. He’s not trying to give us a perfect view, just a feeling of being there, by the water. Look how the lines change direction to show different surfaces—the rough wood of the buildings, the flat water, the tangled nets in the foreground. See how the light seems to dissolve the forms, making everything a little hazy and dreamlike? You know, it reminds me a little of Whistler, but with a warmer, more human touch. Making a print is so intimate; it's a real conversation across time.