Art Connoisseurs 1912

Otto Greiner made this etching, Art Connoisseurs, which pictures two men, maybe artists, maybe collectors, but definitely deep in thought about a work of art. The magic here is in the hatching, all those tiny lines creating volume and shadow, especially in the clothing. Look at the sleeve of the man on the left; see how the lines curve and bunch up to suggest the way the fabric folds? It's like the image is built from a collection of tiny, energetic scratches. You can see the hand of the artist, the repetitive movements that slowly build up the image. It reminds me of Kollwitz, actually, in its intensity and focus on the human figure. There's a similar feeling of weight and seriousness, a sense of the artist grappling with something profound. Ultimately, this piece celebrates the act of looking, of trying to understand, and the endless conversations that art sparks across time.