Kampement bij een oase in de woestijn 1890 - 1930

Philip Zilcken made this aquatint etching, 'Kampement bij een oase in de woestijn' or 'Camp at an Oasis in the Desert', at an unknown date. Look at the way he's created this scene using tonal variations to depict the shimmering heat of the desert. I imagine him carefully layering each mark, building up the image like a memory of a place. You can almost feel the stillness, can't you? Zilcken may have been thinking about the transience of life, or the allure of the exotic, and he’s capturing a dream-like impression of the oasis. The way Zilcken contrasts the delicate, feathery strokes in the trees with the flatter tones of the sky is remarkable. It reminds me of Whistler’s tonalism, the way he would create a poetic mood. It’s like Zilcken is in conversation with other artists, echoing their ideas, yet adding his own voice to the mix. Painting is always a collaborative art form, a collective endeavour across time.