Desert Cedars, New Mexico 1920

George Elbert Burr made this print, *Desert Cedars, New Mexico*, using etching. You can see the fine lines crisscrossing and hatching to build up tone. I imagine Burr out there in the landscape, squinting, trying to capture the harsh light and the twisted forms of these cedars. I can almost feel the dry air and the scratchy texture of the bark. Look at how he's used line to describe the density of the foliage versus the bareness of the desert floor. The details of the rocks are amazing! It's like he's wrestling with the landscape, trying to pin it down with his needle and acid. You know etching is a kind of alchemy, right? It's a conversation between the artist, the metal, and the acid. This piece speaks to the tradition of landscape artists, those who ventured into nature to find something in it. There is a conversation happening in the print between realism and abstraction, between representation and something more felt. What do you feel?