Old Houses, Amsterdam

Tavik Frantisek Simon

Czechoslavakian born printmaker T.F. Simon studied in Prague before moving to Paris in 1903, after spending a short time in Venice and Florence. Influenced by the French Impressionists he also became aware of Whistler's etchings done in Venice, Amsterdam and Paris.

In 1909 Simon was already working incorporating color into his printmaking using aquatint, but he was also doing a series of 'Whistlerian' etchings of the canals of Venice and Amsterdam.

This etching provides a glimpse of the facades of old, unidentified residences in Amsterdam, with the dark water of a canal roughly reflecting the buildings in the foreground. Simon added some brown ink to the black and left ink on the surface to create a warm "atmosphere". The central balcony is detailed and the composition gets sketchier as it moves to the edges, easing the boundries of the platemark, similar to Whistler's "Balcony, Amsterdam", done in 1889.