Le Nys, Amsterdam 1901

Auguste-Louis Lepère made "Le Nys, Amsterdam" using etching, a process that's all about lines and seeing where they lead. Think of it as drawing with acid, kind of wild, right? The whole scene is rendered with these flickering, almost frantic lines that give it a real sense of energy. Lepère really knew how to make a mark do a lot of work. Look at the way he builds up the shadows with these dense clusters of lines, then lets the paper breathe with just a few sparse strokes. There is this one guy in the front, his face a mask of glee or something a little more manic – it's hard to tell, and that's what's so great about it. It reminds me a little of James Ensor, that Belgian weirdo, who was also into these kinds of bustling crowd scenes. Ultimately, this print is about seeing and feeling, not just knowing.