The Rhine, below St. Goar c. 1915

George Elbert Burr made this etching, The Rhine, below St. Goar, on a small metal plate, using needles and acid. It’s all in shades of grey, like a memory. Look at those tiny, nervous strokes – like he’s feeling his way through the landscape. I can imagine Burr, squinting, trying to capture the weight of the clouds over the Rhine. The castle perched up there on the hill looks so solid, even in the mist. He’s part of this long chain of artists trying to pin down the world, each in their own way, from the landscapes of the Hudson River School to Whistler’s misty nocturnes. They all tried to get at something real. Burr’s etching reminds us that art-making is as much about searching and experimenting as it is about finding. Every stroke is a question, and maybe, an answer too.