Het publiek! Possibly 1923

This etching, ‘Het publiek!’ was made in the 1920’s by Hein von Essen. The mark making is so dense that you could almost miss the individual characters. It's more about the crowd, the mass of faces, than any one person. Looking closely, the faces seem to morph into one another. See how the artist uses tight, controlled lines to describe the features, almost like he is carving into the plate. There's a real physical intensity in the making here. The textures created by the clustered marks bring a sense of unease, a kind of claustrophobia that really drives home that feeling of being lost in a crowd. The face right there in the center seems to loom over the rest, as though its bulk can barely be contained within the frame. This reminds me a little of Daumier, another artist who explored social satire through the lens of caricature, but von Essen brings a more anxious, almost nightmarish quality to the scene. Art isn't about easy answers; it's about opening up questions, stirring things up, and maybe making us a little uncomfortable along the way.