Figuren op een olifant onder een poort in Madurai 1917

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp made this print, "Figuren op een olifant onder een poort in Madurai," and it feels like a memory, doesn't it? It's all in sepia tones, like an old photograph, and that etching technique is so linear, so process-oriented. You can see the hand of the artist, the way he built up the image line by line. Look at the elephant, how it's almost dissolving into the gate. It's like the artist is saying, "Here's the main subject, but everything around it is just as important." The texture is incredible too. It's rough, almost gritty, which gives the whole thing a sense of history. Nieuwenkamp, who travelled extensively in Asia, reminds me of someone like Emil Nolde, another artist who was fascinated by non-western cultures. Both were interested in how art can transport us, not just to different places, but to different ways of seeing the world. Art isn't about answers; it's about opening up a space for questions.