Visser 1935

Etienne Cournault created this etching titled "Visser" in 1935. The linear precision and the stark contrast between light and shadow immediately grab your attention, creating a scene that feels both detailed and dreamlike. Cournault's use of hatching and cross-hatching constructs a composition where the fisherman becomes the focal point. This figure dominates the foreground, with the landscape serving as a backdrop that seems to emerge from the fisherman’s own world. The artist balances the two-dimensional surface of the print with an illusion of depth. Cournault destabilizes our conventional understanding of realism. He invites us to consider how we construct meaning through visual signs, and challenges the idea of a singular, fixed interpretation. "Visser" shows how an image functions as an open field for cultural and personal interpretations.