Herring Netting 1928

Philip Little made this etching, Herring Netting, in 1928, using a metal plate to create the image. The overall effect is soft, almost dreamlike. Little has built up the image through what looks like short, flickering strokes, giving it a kind of hazy, atmospheric quality. Up close, you can see how the varying densities of these marks create depth and texture. Look at the way the reflections in the water are rendered with vertical lines, subtly blurred, contrasting with the more solid, detailed forms of the boats. This use of line captures the movement and the reflective nature of the water's surface, while grounding the boats in a quiet stillness. There’s a sense of Whistler in the tonal qualities of the piece, and maybe a nod to the Barbizon school of landscape painters. It's like Little is thinking about the way they captured light and atmosphere, but he's doing it with this very specific, almost impressionistic mark-making, that gives the work a timeless quality. It embraces a kind of serene ambiguity.