Campanile San Pietro, Venice
1907
John Marin American, 1870-1953
United States
A principal innovation of Whistler’s Venice etchings was the manipulation of surface ink to create different atmospheric effects in every impression; the same plate could be printed to appear nocturnal, bathed in mist, or animated by dazzling sunlight. Marin shared with the older artist a “delight in the surface intangibles of light and movement,” employing tonal veils of ink in his printmaking almost from the beginning and improvising with subtractive wiping techniques of his own.
Etching with drypoint, selectively wiped, on ivory Japanese paper