Marine, 1 1910 - 1911

Lyonel Feininger made this etching, using delicate lines to depict a marine scene. I imagine him bent over the plate, carefully scratching in all those tiny marks, each one a little decision, a little breath held. What do you think he was thinking? Maybe about the push and pull of the waves, the way light shatters on the water’s surface, how to capture that feeling of being small against the vastness of the sea. I feel like I am there on the sea. It's like he's built up this whole world out of tiny scratches, a world that's both solid and shimmering. There's something really beautiful about how he takes this traditional subject, the marine scene, and makes it feel so modern. It makes me think of other artists, like Turner, wrestling with similar ideas, trying to capture the sublime power of nature. It’s all one big conversation, across time and space!