Gezicht op Edam Possibly 1912 - 1918

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this print, Gezicht op Edam, sometime around the turn of the last century, using etching or a similar intaglio process. The whole thing is rendered in this warm, sepia tone, like an old photograph or a memory fading at the edges. Look at how the artist used line to build up the image. The trees in the foreground are these skeletal shapes, made of thousands of tiny strokes that somehow capture the gnarly texture of bark. Those lines work together to create depth and shadow. Then your eye travels back to the distant town with its slender church spire. This reminds me a bit of Piranesi's architectural prints, where the line work creates the image's atmospheric depth. Like a visual poem, Nieuwenkamp's print invites us to wander through its intricate, delicate landscape, getting lost in its details.