Return of the Boats 1903

This etching, ‘Return of the Boats,’ was made in 1903 by Maxime Maufra. You can almost feel him there in the studio, wrestling with the copper plate. Can't you just imagine the scratch of the needle across the metal? It’s a pretty gray scene: an overcast day, choppy water, and boats returning to port. There’s something so human in those little etched lines that build into form. The way Maufra captures the movement of the water is something else! Each stroke is a world of its own, yet they come together to form this vast, undulating surface. He might have been thinking about the Impressionists, especially the way they captured light and atmosphere. Maufra seems to be asking similar questions about how to convey a sense of place. The sky is heavy with those sketchy clouds, which reminds me of the Dutch masters. I guess artists are always looking back, picking up on what others have done, and then pushing it in their own direction.