Rainy Night 1939

Mortimer Borne made this rainy night scene, an etching, which is like drawing with acid. The marks are everything here, they’re not trying to trick you with colour. Look at the way he’s built up the tones with these tiny scratches, like a swarm of lines describing a world. It's almost oppressive, but in a good way, the kind of gloom that makes you want to stay inside with a book. See how the rain isn’t just falling, it’s reflecting off every surface, turning the street into a mirror? And those little figures with their umbrellas, they’re almost swallowed by the night. Borne reminds me a bit of Whistler, obsessed with atmosphere, but with a grittier edge, like he’s not just painting the night, but the city’s loneliness too. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about answers, it’s about opening up questions, about seeing the world in a way that makes you feel something, even if you can’t quite name it.