Abandoned 1930

Arthur Briscoe made this etching, called 'Abandoned', at some point in his life. Can you imagine the careful labor it took, dragging the etching tool across the plate, the fine lines cross-hatched to create these tonal depths? What’s going on here? A grounded boat looms, sails askew, and two polar bears survey it. The scene feels frozen, caught, like a photograph of a bad dream. There’s a stillness to the composition, despite the obvious drama. I wonder what Briscoe was thinking as he made this image. Was he thinking about other images he had seen? What was he working through? The making of the image itself must have been a real act of inquiry. Every mark contributes to the overall mood, building up a vision that feels both real and imagined. What a feat to conjure a world with just a few lines! And so we keep looking, keep asking, as artists have done for centuries, building on each other’s visions, and making something new.