New York Buildings c. 1913 - 1914

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt made this etching of New York Buildings, and the grey scale makes me think about how the city must have looked way back when. It’s funny how the absence of color can give you such a strong feeling. The textures in this piece are really interesting; they are created by these fine, scratchy lines. Look closely and you will see how the marks shift and change to conjure up the image. It’s all lines, lines, lines, but these lines, these scratches, they build into something solid, something massive. Like the way he's created the clouds here, it almost looks like they’re moving. The whole thing feels very atmospheric. It's like Nordfeldt is playing with what’s there and what isn’t, creating a dialogue between image and nothingness. It reminds me of Whistler's etchings, that kind of atmospheric sensibility, but with its own distinct, modern edge. It’s this kind of openness that makes art so endlessly interesting.