Mine Sweepers and Seaplanes 1919

Arthur Lismer made this print called "Mine Sweepers and Seaplanes" using etching, a technique that can produce really fine lines. The whole scene shimmers with these etched marks, like light flickering on water, or maybe the nervous energy of wartime. You can feel the weight of the sky bearing down on those little boats and planes. I imagine Lismer, with his etcher's needle, scratching away at the plate, trying to capture not just the image of war, but the feeling of it, the anxiety and the tension. Look at the waves – they’re not just water, they're a mass of tiny, frantic strokes. And the planes themselves seem fragile against the vastness of the landscape. It reminds me a bit of some of Käthe Kollwitz's prints, the way she used line to convey deep emotion. Artists, they're always talking to each other across time, aren't they? This image is less about a literal scene and more about an emotional state. It's a reminder that art can be a way to process the really difficult stuff, to make sense of the world, even when it doesn't make any sense at all.