Chinese Card Players (plate A) 1935

John W. Winkler made this etching called 'Chinese Card Players' sometime in the early to mid 20th century. The whole scene is conjured up with these quick, almost scribbled lines. You can almost see him moving across the plate with his needle, making it a real record of process. The texture is amazing, right? Look at how the light and shadow play across the floor, created with these hatched lines that build up and then dissolve away. There's this incredible density in the shadows, a real physical presence created by the sheer number of marks. But then, elsewhere, the paper is almost bare, letting the light flood in. It's kind of like life, isn't it? Full of moments of intense activity and then these stretches of quiet emptiness. The eye is drawn to the men playing cards around the table, but the lines used to depict the floor they sit upon dominate the piece. Like a stage, the space has been set for a drama about to unfold. You can see the influence of Whistler in the tonal range and subject matter, a shared love of capturing fleeting moments and urban life.