George Washington 1902

This etching of George Washington was made by Max Rosenthal, sometime around 1918. Look at the tonal range of the etching - the way it captures light and shadow to give form to the face and laurel crown. I imagine Rosenthal hunched over the plate, carefully manipulating the etching needle, building up those tones line by line. Did he pause, perhaps, considering Washington's legacy, the weight of history bearing down on his subject? The cross-hatching on Washington's neck is particularly striking, a web of tiny lines that creates a subtle gradient of tone. It's painstaking work! And there's a kind of quiet intensity in the process that is really similar to painting, a process of layering and building until the image emerges. It's like a conversation between the artist and the material, each mark responding to the ones that came before. Artists, whether they know it or not, are in an ongoing conversation, always responding to, and building upon, the ideas and techniques of those who came before.