Paleis aan een rivier 1934

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this print, "Palace on a River," using etching techniques that remind me of drawing with ink. It's a dense network of tiny marks, like a city made of lines. The whole thing feels incredibly textured. Close up, you can practically feel the scratch of the etching needle on the plate. The artist built up these areas of dark and light, creating a real sense of depth and atmosphere, despite the limited tonal range of black and white. Look at the way the artist rendered the boat in the foreground with these super short, vertical lines. The density of these marks really emphasizes the stillness of the boat in the water. It reminds me a bit of the prints of Piranesi, with the same kind of almost obsessive detail and love of architectural forms. Art is always echoing.