The Forge 1920

This is Hans Meid’s print, The Forge, made with etching. It's all about mark-making, a dense weave of lines creating dark shadows around figures in a doorway. The whole scene feels kind of secretive, charged. The physical texture of the etching is really important here. You can almost feel the scratch of the needle on the plate, especially in the darker areas. Notice the way the lines are layered to create a sense of depth and mystery. Look at the lower right, where the etching bleeds out – that’s the real stuff, it's the physicality of the ink on the paper, the way it's been pushed into the fibers, that brings a sense of the uncanny to the image. It makes me think of Käthe Kollwitz, another German artist, wrestling with similar ideas about darkness and humanity. Art’s not about answers, it's about conversations.