Return of the Boats 1903

Maxime Maufra made this etching, Return of the Boats, in 1903 and it’s all about lines, a real flurry of them, dancing across the plate. I love how he uses them, not just to depict, but to almost feel the scene. It’s like he’s thinking with his pen, or needle in this case. Look at the water: a scribbled, chaotic energy. You can almost feel the chill of the sea air. Then, notice how the clouds are rendered with these looping, almost playful marks, very different to the rigid lines of the boats. The whole thing has this incredible textural quality, like you could reach out and touch the roughness of the waves, or the billowing sails. Maufra isn’t trying to give us a photograph; he’s giving us an experience. This reminds me of James McNeill Whistler who similarly used etching in an impressionistic way. Ultimately, it's this kind of mark-making that reminds us that art is a conversation, not a lecture.