Doorway into Street 1929

Louis Lozowick made this lithograph, "Doorway into Street," on paper, and though we don't know exactly when, it feels like the 1920's. Looking at this image, I’m thinking about what it must have been like to be Lozowick, to stand there and make it. Did he intend to capture the strict, angular geometry of the urban landscape? Or was he simply drawn to the play of light and shadow across the checkered floor and the bars of the doorway? I imagine him searching for ways to express the feeling of being in this place. I like the wheel of the automobile that appears to be floating above the grid of the window: the sensation of being in a place but seeing somewhere else, moving through a space of light. It reminds me of those guys, like Charles Sheeler, who were finding new ways to paint the modern world. Maybe, like them, he found beauty in the starkness and simplicity of modern design. Or not! Either way, here we are, still looking.