Portret van een vrouw, en profil 1867 - 1890

Philip Zilcken made this portrait of a woman using etching, a printmaking technique, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The image is created by drawing lines into a coated metal plate, which is then submerged in acid. The acid bites away at the exposed metal, creating grooves that hold ink. When the plate is pressed onto paper, the ink transfers, resulting in a print. Look closely, and you can see the dense network of fine lines that describe the woman’s features and clothing. Etching allowed for relatively quick reproduction, making art more accessible. But each print still required careful labor, linking art production to broader issues of work and value. Zilcken's choice of etching, rather than painting, suggests an interest in democratizing art, moving it away from unique, precious objects and towards wider distribution. Considering the materials and the making process allows us to appreciate not just the image, but also the social context in which it was created.