Konijnen c. 1910

Bernard Willem Wierink made this print of rabbits using etching. The stark contrast and the repetitive rhythm of the rabbits create an arresting visual experience. The rabbits, uniformly spaced on a single line, reduce the animals to a series of similar shapes. Wierink’s reduction of the rabbits to simplified forms reveals an understanding of the underlying structure. This technique can be seen through semiotic theory, where each rabbit becomes a signifier. The composition suggests a sense of order and categorization, almost as if the rabbits are specimens in a scientific study. The use of line is also crucial here. The single line on which the rabbits are placed both grounds them and abstracts them. This etching prompts us to question how we perceive and categorize the natural world.