Ireland and Russia 1901

Muirhead Bone made this print, Ireland and Russia, at an unknown date, using etching. Imagine the artist, bent over a metal plate, incising lines with a sharp needle. It's a meditative, repetitive process, like drawing with light. The architecture emerges from a tangle of marks, a cottage on the left, ornate buildings to the right, and a crowd, or are they trees, or bushes? Is the artist thinking about place and belonging or is it about the act of mark making? Look at the variety of lines; some are delicate and faint, others bold and assertive. See how the artist uses hatching and cross-hatching to create depth and shadow. The artist is wrestling with something, searching for clarity in a world of shifting perspectives. The painting practice is a process of questioning, and like all artists, Muirhead Bone is in conversation with the masters that came before, while showing the way for future generations.