Madonna 1923

This is Laura Knight's "Madonna", an etching on paper. The grainy texture of the print reveals much about its making. To create it, Knight would have painstakingly covered a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground, then drawn her image into that ground with a sharp needle. The plate would then be submerged in acid, which bites away at the exposed metal. This is repeated to achieve different depths of line. Finally, the plate is inked and printed, transferring the image to paper. This printmaking process requires technical skill and manual labor. The quality of line and tone reflects Knight's mastery of the etching process. The very act of creating an etching is slow and repetitive. It stands in contrast to the quickness of modern industrial production. By focusing on the labor-intensive practices, Knight elevates it. This challenges the traditional hierarchy between fine art and craft, highlighting the value of skill, time, and material transformation.