Bloemen 1914 - 1938

This is Maria Hermana Johanna de Boer-Plantenga’s ‘Bloemen’, a print made with an etching technique. The image emerges from the paper through the delicate, almost tentative quality of the marks. It’s like de Boer-Plantenga is feeling her way through the image, discovering the flower bit by bit. There's a real sensitivity in the way the tones shift and change, creating a sense of depth and volume despite the limited palette. Look at the petals of the top flower. See how the light catches the edges, making them almost shimmer? It's all done with the careful layering of lines, like she's weaving the image into existence. The texture of the paper becomes part of the piece. The closest artist I could compare this to is someone like Morandi, who used a similar method of repetition to try and understand and represent the world around him. Art is always an open-ended exploration, and Maria Hermana Johanna de Boer-Plantenga invites us to join her on that journey.