Brug over de Theems in Londen 1888 - 1934

Willem Adrianus Grondhout made this tiny etching of a bridge over the Thames in London. It's all grays and blacks, smudgy and atmospheric. You can almost feel the damp air and hear the sounds of the city. I imagine Grondhout standing there, squinting, trying to capture the essence of the scene with a few quick lines. The needle scratching across the plate, a flurry of marks to suggest the bustling river, the solid architecture, the hazy sky. Was he happy with it? Did he feel he’d captured something real, or was it just another attempt to grasp the ungraspable? Look at the way he suggests depth with those tiny lines, how the bridge recedes into the distance. It's like he's inviting us to step into his world, to experience London through his eyes. Every artist is in conversation with artists from the past and present. Grondhout and I, even you, are all trying to capture the world, but there's no right or wrong way to do it. It's all about the feeling, the emotion, the connection.