The Great Gantry, Charing Cross Station 1906

Muirhead Bone made this intaglio print, The Great Gantry, Charing Cross Station, with etching and drypoint. I imagine the artist standing in front of the station and drawing directly onto the plate. The marks are really delicate and they remind me of Piranesi's architectural prints or Whistler’s etchings of the Thames. I can almost feel the sharp point of Bone's etching needle as he meticulously incises the metal, capturing the immensity of the station's ironwork and the hustle of the workers. The architectural structure is immense. It’s a beautiful thing, like looking at the bones of a cathedral! Bone really understood how light works – look at the way the lines darken to suggest shadow and volume. It's amazing how just a few carefully placed lines can give you a sense of the size and activity of this station. You get a sense of history, like a scene from a movie. All artists are in conversation with one another and what I love about artmaking is that it’s like having a dialogue that continues across time.