Schenkkan c. 1914

Frans Everbag made this little etching, Schenkkan, presumably sometime before 1947. Look at the way he’s handled the ink, so dark and shadowy. It reminds me of trying to paint an object, like a lamp, in one color, and struggling to find the light, the form. I wonder if Everbag mixed his own inks. It looks like he’s coaxed so many tones out of what seems like just a pea-soup green. The etched lines create the form, but the ink provides the depth, like glazing a ceramic. I can imagine him wiping the plate, pulling the print, and squinting, trying to get the tone just right. There is a rich tradition of painters depicting objects. Think of Morandi's bottles, or the teacups of Wayne Thiebaud. The conversation between artists rolls on like a river, each one building on what came before, transmuting it into something new. We all learn from each other, I guess, in this beautiful, ongoing, meandering way.