Molenaar in de korenmolen van Wijk bij Duurstede knoopt een zak dicht c. 1908

Willem Witsen made this etching of a miller tying up a sack, location unspecified, sometime around the late 19th century. The scene is built from many short, scratchy lines which create a sense of depth and texture. Witsen's mark-making feels like a dance - a little frantic, like trying to capture a scene that's always moving. I’m drawn to the lower right corner, to that weighty sack, bulging and heavily shaded with tight hatched lines. It feels solid and grounded in contrast to the sketchy architectural forms behind the miller. The way the light glances off the top, and fades into the darker, denser marks below, suggests the weight of the thing. It's an intimate portrait of labor and the everyday. You could say that Witsen is working in the tradition of the Dutch masters, like Rembrandt. But Witsen brings a modern sensibility to it, an informal immediacy that feels totally fresh. Art doesn’t have to be ‘finished’ to be meaningful.