Reproductie van een prent of tekening met gezicht op een oud huis, mogelijk te Greiz in Duitsland 1932

This print of an old house, possibly in Greiz, Germany, was made by Gustav Digel. Look at the tonality of grays and blacks, and the mass of tiny, scribbly, scratchy lines. I can just imagine Digel walking around Germany with his kit, making sketches from life. What was he thinking as he looked at this building? Did he know someone who lived there? Was he thinking about how the past inhabits the present? I imagine him using a ground, scratching in the image, and then dipping the plate in acid. The image slowly appearing as it bites into the metal, line by line. See how the marks aren’t just descriptive, they also carry an emotional charge. It reminds me of other German artists like Kirchner and Beckmann, capturing something about the spirit of place. A place that you can only visit through images like this, and your own imagination.