Pamplona 1928

Francis Dodd made this etching of Pamplona using fine lines to create a sense of depth and texture. It's all about process, right? How the artist coaxes an image out of a plate through careful, repetitive action. Look at how the tiny marks build up to describe the grand architecture and landscape. The walls of the fortress, for example, are rendered with such detail that you can almost feel the rough stone. The trees in the foreground are a mass of tangled lines, creating a screen between us and the city. There’s something comforting in these repetitive strokes, like a meditative act. It's like Morandi and his bottles, but with buildings! Dodd, like many etchers, plays with light and shadow to create mood. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, each artist building on the ideas of those who came before. And like any good conversation, it’s full of delightful ambiguity.