Zij-ingang met houten trap van de Krom Boomssloot 69 in Amsterdam c. 1906

This etching was made by Willem Witsen, an artist working in Amsterdam, depicting a side entrance with a wooden staircase. The limited palette and the process of etching allow for a real study in light and shadow, which for me is where the painting really lives. Look at the way the shadow pools around the figure near the center of the image. The texture is built up of tiny, close-knit lines, a clear mark of the etching process. They’re like whispers, suggesting form without fully defining it. Notice how the woman’s dark dress almost blends into the shadows of the doorway. The contrast makes the architecture appear almost temporary. Witsen, like Whistler, who he knew, was interested in capturing fleeting moments, the ephemeral quality of urban life. I think it is also a bit like the work of someone like Vuillard, it is not about grand gestures but about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. In this piece, Witsen shows us how much can be said with a few well-placed lines and a keen eye for the subtleties of light.