Walchensee c. 1923

Lovis Corinth made this print called Walchensee with etching, drypoint, and aquatint. Just looking at it, you can see the landscape emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with the artist here. I can imagine him working and re-working the plate, searching for the right marks to convey the feeling of this place, Walchensee. Those etched lines feel urgent, like he's trying to capture something fleeting, like a memory. The sky is very active, there is movement everywhere. Then there are these drypoint marks, digging into the surface, creating a burr that catches the ink and makes a velvety dark line. It’s like a conversation, a push and pull between control and chance. I know it well, that feeling of scratching away at something until it reveals itself, a kind of embodied expression. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.