Soon after marrying Sylvia Shear in 1966, the couple bought a 19th-century house in Montagu. Krige hadn’t done much etching since his training in Antwerp. However, soon after arriving in Montagu he again became interested and Sylvia had an etching press made for him as a surprise gift. To her dismay, Krige did much of his work on the kitchen table. The etching press had a room of its own adjacent to the kitchen, the zinc and copper plates lining the walls on narrow shelves. ‘Cogmanskloof and Fort’ is a moody symphony of Montagu rock modelled in hatchings. Reminiscent of the German landscape artist, Caspar Friedrich, this is a Romantic view of nature and the power of the sublime, and conveys Krige’s emotional response to the beauty of the kloof. – Justin Fox, 2013