Straatgezicht in Rotterdam 1938

This is Johan Hendrik van Mastenbroek’s ‘Straatgezicht in Rotterdam’, made with etching, and it's all about the magic that happens when lines start to describe a world. Look at how the buildings on the left are built up with these tiny, nervous strokes, almost like he's feeling his way through the scene. You can sense the grit of the city. I love how the sky is just a mass of scribbles, but somehow it feels like a real Rotterdam sky, heavy with the threat of rain. There's a certain kind of joy in mark-making itself and this piece is so much about that physicality. It reminds me of Piranesi, that Italian printmaker who was obsessed with architecture and decay. But where Piranesi is all about grand scale and drama, van Mastenbroek is more intimate, more personal. He is showing you a place, but he is also revealing something about the act of seeing, the act of drawing. It's not just about the place, it's about the process.