Tidal Patterns 1960

Otto Eglau made this etching called ‘Tidal Patterns’ sometime in the last century. You can see how he’s built up the image through layers of lines and tones. They pool in the foreground, and then fade into the distance like a washed-out memory. The lines feel so intentional and considered. I wonder if he worked directly from observation, or from sketches done on site, out in the landscape? I can imagine him standing on the beach, watching the tide come in and out, how the light changes the look of everything. The verticals rhythmically mark a passage or boundary, maybe between land and sea, or even past and present. You could feel the stillness of the scene, and then the energy of the tides. Etching has this quality, like drawing but in reverse, where you get lost in the details, yet remain faithful to the big picture. There’s something of the German Expressionist woodcut in this too. It makes me think about the way artists are always responding to each other’s work, even across time, adding their own spin and perspective.