House on the Main Street, Easthampton 1922

Childe Hassam made this print, “House on Main Street, Easthampton” using etching, and it's all about the cross-hatching. Look at how the lines build up the image bit by bit. It’s like he's thinking through the scene right in front of us. The etching is raw and immediate. You can almost feel the metal plate and the artist scratching away at it. The image feels fleeting, like a quick sketch, but it also has a solidity to it, built up from all those tiny lines. The trees and the house kind of merge, don't they? They are all made from the same energetic marks. It's like the house is growing out of the landscape. The way Hassam uses line reminds me of some of Whistler’s prints, though Hassam's got a bit more American grit to him. With art there are never any solid answers, just a lot of looking and wondering.