Zeilboten op het IJsselmeer before 1909

Florimond Buyck made this print of sailboats, probably from an etching, using the kind of mark-making where you can really feel the process. It's all about these etched lines creating tone and texture. There’s something beautiful about how the tiny marks create the image of the waves, like they're all working together. The marks become a storm, and the storm becomes a boat! Look at the way he renders the sky with these short, hatched strokes, and then those long, confident lines for the sails. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the scene. The details in the ship at the front feel kind of haphazard - but they create an impression of incredible detail. You could compare this to work by Whistler, who was also playing with these tonal effects in prints around the same time. It's all part of this larger conversation about how to represent the world, but also how to capture a mood, a feeling, and the in-betweeness of it all.