Bosham 1925

James McBey made this etching of Bosham, which is a village in West Sussex, England. The marks he makes across the scene, from the thatch on the distant houses, to the grasses in the foreground, have a real scratchy energy to them. For me, mark-making is a way of thinking and working through the world. The texture here isn’t about mimicking real-world surfaces, it’s about creating a kind of visual buzz. If you look closely at the area in the foreground, the grass is represented with these short, sharp lines. They don't just describe grass; they create a kind of vibrating energy that animates the whole scene. It's not just about seeing the place, but feeling it. This reminds me a bit of some of Whistler’s etchings; that sense of a specific place, captured with an economy of line. But where Whistler is all about mood and atmosphere, McBey has this restless energy that feels very contemporary. Art is always this ongoing conversation, where artists build on, respond to, and sometimes argue with what came before. And there’s never just one right answer, which is what makes it so interesting.