Sardine Fleet 1928

Kerr Eby made this print, Sardine Fleet, using etching, creating a network of lines, a real process-oriented way of working. What strikes me is how, with all these marks, he’s caught the mood of a blustery day, figures huddled on the shore, watching the boats. The texture is really interesting, rough and immediate, and the overall effect is pretty tonal, mostly greys. The darker marks closer to the front bring the image forward, and it almost feels like we are there with them, feeling the wind. I think Eby’s mark-making and his focus on atmosphere has some similarities with Whistler. There is an ongoing conversation between artists, constantly exchanging ideas across time, which is what makes it so engaging. It embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed or definitive meanings.