Boom bij een kerk 1888 - 1924

Anna Catharina Maria van Eeghen made this etching, titled 'Boom bij een kerk' – 'Tree by a Church' – with needle and acid on a metal plate. It’s all in a closely-toned grey, and the lines are built up so carefully. It’s like she’s feeling her way through the image. Look closely at the way the lines build up the tree. It’s almost like a drawing, but with the added depth and texture that etching gives. The bare branches reach up, a tangle of lines that somehow become three-dimensional. And then there’s the church, solid and still, with its spire pointing towards the sky. The sky itself is just a few etched lines, but it suggests so much. It reminds me a bit of the German Expressionist printmakers, like Kathe Kollwitz, in the way it uses simple means to create a powerful emotional effect. It embraces the ambiguity of the world, letting the image emerge slowly, line by line, suggesting a feeling or an experience, rather than trying to pin it down.