Hemulå II 1906

Anders Zorn made this etching called Hemulå II, showing a woman in water, sometime between 1860 and 1920. Look at how he uses all those tiny lines to create light and shadow. It’s like he’s thinking through the image, finding it as he goes, bit by bit. The texture is amazing, right? The way he builds up the darks with cross-hatching, especially in the water around her, gives it so much depth. You can almost feel the coolness of the water, the ripples catching the light. And then there’s her skin, rendered with such delicate, subtle marks. It’s like he’s sculpting her with light and shadow, bringing her to life on the plate. Think about how Picasso was also playing with line and form, stripping things down to their essence. Zorn’s work, like Picasso’s, is about finding the essential form, the energy of the figure, in the simplest of marks. It's all about that conversation between artists, across time. There's no one answer, just endless possibilities.