The Desert 1909

David Young Cameron made this etching, called The Desert, at some point in his career. The sepia tones feel warm. It's like the whole process of artmaking is laid bare. I'm drawn to the way the dark, almost gritty foreground meets the pale, open sky. See how the texture of the paper becomes part of the image itself? It's not just a picture *of* a desert, it's a picture *made* of desert-like material. Take a look at that cluster of figures in the middle ground. Barely there! Like little mirages, they could disappear at any moment. The whole image is so subtle, so open to interpretation. It reminds me of Whistler's tonalist landscapes, that same sense of atmosphere and suggestion. It's not about what you see, but how you see it. And that, for me, is what art is all about.