Stettin Bollwerk | The wharf in Szczecin

The harbour, with its vibrant quays and the Oder River that has become a lasting feature of Szczecin's landscape, has always been a popular subject for paintings. In the 1920s and 1930s, artists used one of the most popular painting themes. Most frequently, these included views of the castle hill and the Old Town or the splendid Haken Terrace (German: Hakenterrasse, now Wały Chrobrego) as seen across the river. Not only did these works document changes in the design of the port, but also in its arrangement, which necessitated the adaptation of Szczecin's quays to accommodate both fishing boats and low-sided barges, as well as large passenger steamers. The view of the quayside with the buildings of the Old Town and Most Długi in the background, seen from the landside, was captured in etchings by Kurt Pallmann (1886-1952), a Berlin artist known for his garden landscapes, maritime scenes, and depictions of the Berlin skyline. His work from the inter-war period portrayed the Szczecin waterfront as a busy area, both on the water and on the quay itself. The smoke rising from the chimneys of the steamboats, a rainy aura and the haze obscuring the old town created a genuine dockyard mood. Alongside etching, Pallmann also used the dry-point technique, in which a printing form is created on a polished copper, tin or brass plate. The artist incises the point of the needle into the surface of the matrix, leaving a depression and a raised burr to retain the ink. This technique was already known in Europe in the 15th century, but its revival followed in the second half of the 19th century. Małgorzata Peszko