Atlantic 1929

Arnold Rönnebeck made this print, called "Atlantic", in 1919. Just look at how he’s built up this world with so much dark, furious, repetitive mark-making. It’s like the energy of the sea is buzzing right off the paper. The texture is key here; see how the dense, swirling lines create a palpable sense of the ocean's power. The whole image is full of these tiny, almost manic marks. It’s kind of wild how much detail he gets out of what is essentially a black and white drawing, there’s a real physicality to the marks here, they almost feel sculpted. The rain slanting down in the top right feels like an extension of these marks, like the storm itself is a product of these feverish scratches. It’s like he’s turning the act of drawing into a kind of endurance test, a way of grappling with the untameable force of nature. It reminds me a little of some of the woodcuts of Gustave Baumann, both artists seem to be using this relentless mark making to get at something primal. Ultimately, it’s that sense of raw, untamed energy that makes this piece so compelling.