Washington's Headquarters near Valley Forge 1926

Childe Hassam created this etching, Washington's Headquarters near Valley Forge, using finely worked lines on a metal plate. I can imagine him outside on a grey day, squinting at the scene, trying to get it down with tight hatching. Hassam wants to give us all the details, to bring out the texture of the bark, the walls, the grass. He is someone with a keen eye, and the technical skill to record all the visual information. You can feel Hassam's presence in the rapid lines, his decisions to emphasize texture and light. I wonder if he was looking at the work of Whistler, who also transformed everyday scenes using etching. Artists are always in conversation with each other like that, aren’t they? That little dance across time, riffing on each other’s moves.