Pijprokende man 1660 - 1800

This is an etching titled "Pijprokende man," or "Man Smoking a Pipe," made by an anonymous artist, printed on paper. The printmaking process has a lot to do with how this image looks. The artist would have covered a metal plate with a waxy ground, then scratched an image into it with a needle. Immersed in acid, the exposed lines would be eaten away, leaving grooves that would hold ink. The plate would then be wiped clean, and pressed against paper, transferring the image. Look closely, and you can see that the whole image is built up from lines. The tonal gradations depend on how closely these are packed together. It's an indirect process, which creates a certain distance, but also a kind of precision. Printmaking, like all forms of production, has its own qualities. It invites us to consider not just the image, but the method by which it was brought into being.