Brooklyn Bridge 1930

Earl Horter created this print of the Brooklyn Bridge using etching, a technique where lines are incised into a metal plate with acid to hold the ink. The bridge rises out of the buildings and the water, shimmering like a ghost. I can imagine Horter, bent over his plate, carefully drawing the bridge’s latticework of cables and the heavy, solid forms of the towers. The image is built up through a dense accumulation of hatched marks, each one registering the pressure and movement of his hand. I wonder, was he thinking about Piranesi? There's a real push-pull in this image between the industrial and the romantic. It reminds us that all artists are in conversation, building on what came before, and finding new ways to see and represent the world. Painting is just like that, a conversation, full of mistakes and surprises. It’s not about getting it right, but about staying open to the possibilities.