"Based on his experience as an engraver, Ferdinand Springer gives his watercolors an entirely new and original meaning. Here the pen replaces the chisel. The thin line traverses colored surfaces: in contact with the moist material, it spreads into thin ribs and is lost in multiple ramifications into the diluted colour. The artist also uses the technique of applying a sheet of paper coated with black gouache against the watercolor. The treated surfaces then take on a grainy appearance since the gouache only dyes the asperities of the watercolour. The pigment effects thus obtained evoke the technique of soft varnish and aquatint used in etching." Emmanuelle Foster