Château de Meanieres 1905

Charles John Watson made this etching of the Château de Meanieres, and honestly, it feels like he did it with a sewing needle. The whole thing is so delicate, like lace, a web of tiny marks building up to this impressive building. Look at those lines scratching out the sky – or is it light? The way he uses the white of the paper is as important as the ink. It's like he's thinking about negative space in a sculptural way, letting the light carve out the form. And then, there are those little figures on the stairs, barely there, but they give the whole thing scale and a sense of life. You can almost hear the rustle of their clothes as they walk towards the entrance. It reminds me of Piranesi, but softer, more dreamlike. It's a world built from the smallest gestures.