The Norwegian, Concarneau 1925

Earl Stetson Crawford made this etching, The Norwegian, Concarneau, sometime in the early 20th century, using a painstaking method of scratching lines into a metal plate to create this super detailed scene. Look closely, and you can see a whole world made up of tiny marks. The texture and depth that Crawford achieves is remarkable. The way the light shimmers on the water or the rigging is incredibly precise. There’s real energy in the way he builds up these layers, a feeling of movement in the water and air. Notice that the foreground boat overlaps the larger boat in the background; it’s like the picture plane is compressed. It’s easy to imagine Crawford himself, out there on the dock, sketching and observing with total focus. His work reminds me of other American artists such as Edward Hopper who found beauty in everyday scenes of American life and who were interested in capturing a sense of place. With art, there are no fixed meanings, just different ways of looking and feeling.