Old and New Gaiety Theaters 1904

Muirhead Bone's etching "Old and New Gaiety Theaters" looks like it was made with a fine needle dragged across a plate, scraping and scratching to build up this incredible scene. I imagine Bone, maybe in a slightly grubby coat, standing on the street in the middle of the construction, squinting through the sunlight to capture all of this detail. The lines feel so delicate, yet they construct these monumental structures, and it's amazing how the artist contrasts old and new. It's like seeing the past being eaten up by the future, a really moving, and strangely exciting feeling. I wonder if this reminds you of other artists who worked in printmaking like Whistler or Piranesi. Bone is definitely part of that lineage, and artists are always talking to each other, across decades and across different mediums. To me, the conversation they’re having is about how we see and how we mark, how a simple line can carry so much weight, emotion, and meaning.