Portret van Elizabeth Mouton als kind met kap op het hoofd 1877 - 1950

This small etching of Elizabeth Mouton as a child, was made by Barbara Elisabeth van Houten. There's a lot of scratching, a nervous energy in the lines used to make up the face, as if the artist is trying to catch something fleeting. You can almost feel van Houten hovering over the plate, unsure how to render such a young sitter. The whole image is built up from clusters of small lines, cross hatching really, but the effect is to give a deep sense of volume and texture. Look closely at the bonnet, the lines are denser to the left, lighter on the right, giving a sculptural feel to the form. It’s this sense of touch, this feeling of the artist's hand moving across the plate, that really grabs me. You can see a similar approach in the work of Paula Modersohn-Becker. A real sense of looking, and of trying to find a way to express what is seen, as a lived, felt experience. This little etching is a great example of art as a process of discovery.