Regenbui boven de rijstvelden bij Gitgit op Bali 1908

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this etching of rain over rice fields in Bali, probably using thin needles and acid to bite into the metal plate. I imagine him outdoors, sitting on a stool in front of this vista, scribbling away, trying to capture the feeling of that rain. Look how the landscape recedes! Those layered terraces, the clumps of trees, all diminishing into the distance. It's like a stage set, and that rain is the dramatic device that brings it all to life. I wonder what Nieuwenkamp was thinking about as he made this? I bet he felt a kinship with those folks working in the fields, feeling the rain on their skin, just as he felt the burr of the etching needle in his hand. That connection, that shared human experience, is what makes art so powerful. We are all in this thing together, trying to make sense of the world, one line, one mark, one etching at a time.