Vrouw voor de haard 1887 - 1952

This is 'Vrouw voor de haard' by Chris van der Windt, an etching, dimensions are almost miniature. Look at the marks, there’s a real scrappiness to them. The artist seems to be really digging into the plate. Notice how the etching lines create form through tone, look at how the darkest areas are also the most densely marked, but also consider how it's the areas of the white paper that provide highlights to the scene. The way the scene is built up feels really intuitive to me. The etched line has a directness that’s so refreshing. Etching has always been an artists medium. Think of Picasso, or Goya, who was also amazing. And I think what all these artists have in common is they’re not trying to represent reality as some kind of truth, but more trying to use a medium to explore what it is to be human.