Hooischouwen 1908 - 1932

Adriaan van 't Hoff made this etching, Hooischouwen, on paper, and the marks feel quiet and precise. I imagine him hunched over the plate, carefully layering the lines to describe each object. You can see the boats gently bobbing on the water and the haystacks covered in cloth. What must it have been like for him to be an artist in that moment? How did he make a living? I imagine him balancing life and art, family and work. He looks at these boats all day and now, back in the studio, he etches them. Each line is a thought, a decision, like a kind of conversation, or a form of embodied expression. A dialogue between the world and the self. As with painting, this etching becomes a site of inquiry, inviting us to see, think, and experience the world through his eyes. The conversation continues through time and space.