Dorpsgezicht in Tirol before 1903

Edgar Milster made this monochromatic print of a townscape in Tirol, though, as the title says, I don’t know when exactly. The image has this lovely sense of tonal simplicity that makes it feel quiet and calm, the opposite of some art that is so loud it just screams at you. What I love here is the way Milster captures the light in Tirol; see how it gently drapes over the buildings, creating shadows that aren't too stark? And then, the texture of the mountain in the background, a gentle gray. All in all, it feels like a landscape suspended in time. It puts me in mind of the prints of Emil Nolde, though Nolde's are far more expressionistic, it's that love of the German landscape that feels shared. It suggests to me that art is an ongoing conversation, one where artists continually respond to and build upon what came before.