Aftenlandskab 1915

Peter Ilsted made this print, Aftenlandskab, with its monochrome color scheme and soft textures. It is a landscape reduced to the bare minimum. It’s all about process. Look at the sky. See how the lines seem to run across the surface of the plate? This tells us something about how the print was made. I imagine Ilsted working on the plate, using a tool to create the lines. Then he would have inked the plate, and wiped away the excess ink to reveal the image. The ink left in the lines would then have been transferred to the paper to create the print. It’s indirect and physical, like painting! I love the way the trees become inky blots, the way the road is a memory of a road, the way everything simplifies itself. It reminds me a little of Vilhelm Hammershøi, another Danish artist who liked to use a limited palette and simplified forms. What do you think?