East Blatchington 1908

Muirhead Bone made this etching, East Blatchington, using a metal plate and acid, to bite at the lines. You can tell he was really feeling this landscape, etching furiously, creating a whole world with the barest means. I imagine him outside, squinting in the sun. There’s a real beauty in Bone's marks, a kind of scratchy tenderness, which, for me, evokes the feeling of being there, in that very spot. The surface of the landscape is built up with these thin lines, like delicate threads. The thatched roofs of the buildings are particularly evocative. I notice how the marks vary in weight, some dark and assertive, others light and fleeting, like whispers. The whole scene feels alive and in motion. Artists have always looked to their predecessors, riffing on each other’s ideas, and Bone’s work reminds me of Whistler, another master of etching and tonal nuance. It's all one big conversation, you know?