Prosit! 1886

Robert Koehler made this etching, "Prosit!", using a metal plate, acid, and ink. Etching, unlike drawing, relies on chemistry to do some of the work. The artist covers a metal plate with a waxy ground, then scratches an image into that surface, exposing the metal. The plate is then submerged in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. This process creates grooves that hold ink. So when the plate is pressed onto paper, the image transfers. Koehler uses a dense thicket of these etched lines to create an image of a working-class couple enjoying a drink together. You can imagine the artist bent over his workbench for hours, scratching away at the plate. Etching was relatively cheap to reproduce, it was often used for popular prints aimed at a mass audience. The artist can produce dozens, even hundreds, of identical images, each one a direct impression of the labor that went into the plate. By thinking about the amount of work that went into the production process, we can understand the full meaning of this artwork.