Toekan 1913 - 1914

Here's an etching of a Toekan by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. It’s so graphic! I am imagining Mesquita bent over his plate, digging in with a tool, making those marks… The precision of the cross-hatched background gives it an almost psychedelic feel, as if the bird is emerging from another dimension. The lines that make up the bird are so dense, they almost flatten the image. The beak looks like it was carved from ivory. What’s he thinking? I imagine Mesquita was thinking about Durer and other master printmakers when he made this. I can feel him pushing against that tradition, trying to make something new but deeply respectful of the past. It makes me wonder if, when I’m making my own work, I am also standing on the shoulders of giants… This piece reminds me that we’re all in conversation, exchanging ideas across time.