The St. Moritz, New York 1934

Esther Brock Bird made this print, titled 'The St. Moritz, New York' sometime around 1934, using etching. It's a scene rendered entirely in black and white, and somehow it feels very contemporary. Look at the rain, those diagonal lines that feel almost frantic, but so controlled. They remind me of the way Cy Twombly used to build up his surfaces with layers of scribbled marks. The material aspect of this work, the tiny etched lines, makes the rain feel so present, so real you can almost feel the cold, wet city on your skin. There's a couple on the right side of the image, huddled under an umbrella, sharing a moment, maybe waiting to go inside the hotel. But in reality we are the figures waiting for a moment. We stand with Esther, seeing through her eyes. That's the power of art, isn't it? To connect us across time and space through a shared experience.