The Doorway 1925

James McBey made this etching called "The Doorway", we don't know when but sometime between 1883 and 1959. I can almost feel the artist, McBey, bending over the plate, scratching away at the metal, lost in the process. Look at the reflections in the water, achieved with these energetic lines, how the light bounces off them! I bet it was a real challenge to capture that shimmering effect. And the doorway itself! It's dark, mysterious. What's inside? What's outside? Those figures, are they coming or going? Maybe McBey was thinking about thresholds, about the boundaries between places, between worlds. This piece reminds me a bit of Piranesi’s architectural prints, but with a softer, more human touch. We see each other's work and keep making things and that's how it goes.