Zittende vrouw, naar rechts gewend 1886 - 1925

This is a small etching made by Ernest Haskell, showing a woman sitting, facing to the right. It’s all about the lines, right? I mean, etching is. Haskell knew how to make those lines sing. Look at how he uses the fineness of the marks to suggest volume and light. You can feel the weight of her hair, the softness of her shawl, all through these tiny etched lines. It’s a real dance of pressure and release. See that soft hatching in the background? So subtle. It lets the figure really breathe and come forward, as though Haskell is right there, just capturing a fleeting moment, like a Degas. There’s this feeling that the image is both there and not there at the same time. So, instead of being about some fixed idea, it's about the act of seeing, the process of making a mark. I find that so much more interesting.