Lezende vrouw in een bibliotheek 1906

François Courboin made this etching, *Lezende vrouw in een bibliotheek*, of a woman reading in a library in 1906. The marks are so fleeting, so temporary, like a sketch in a notebook. I love the casualness of the marks, the way they seem to dance around the page. It's like Courboin is saying, "Here's a woman, but also here's the process of me trying to capture her." See how the lines on her dress pool together? It's almost like he's more interested in the shadows and the folds than in the dress itself. The way the lines define the book the woman is reading are so precise and exact, whereas the lines of the woman’s face are more abstract. The marks are more gestural and suggestive than descriptive. It reminds me a little of Whistler's etchings, that same sense of fleeting beauty and a love for the process of making art. But Courboin has his own voice, his own way of seeing the world. Art's always a conversation, right?