De oude waringin 1916

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp created this print, featuring a waringin tree, with ink on paper. I can imagine the artist so patiently at work, coaxing the image from the plate, wiping away the excess to reveal the light. This feels like one of those images that grows from the inside out, from a deep love for the organic architecture of the waringin. Look at that web of roots and vines, like nature's own cathedral. I wonder, did Nieuwenkamp see these trees as holding some kind of secret, some ancient wisdom? The dark ink suggests something mysterious, something hidden in the tangled growth. There’s a real intimacy here, like he’s sharing a private moment with these ancient trees. It reminds me a little of Piranesi's etchings of Roman ruins, but instead of stone, it's all about the wild, untamed beauty of nature. Artists, they're always in conversation, across time and place.