Corona Dump '29 1939

Charles Ernest Pont made "Corona Dump '29" as part of the Federal Art Project. Look at the force of nature captured here, the sky a mass of dark cloud, the sun's rays bursting through like an intervention. I imagine Pont, standing before this scene, tool in hand, carving away at the wood, each line a deliberate act of shaping light and shadow. What was he thinking as he rendered the heavy clouds and the hopeful sun? Was he trying to capture a sense of drama, a moment of sublime intensity? The stark contrast creates such atmosphere; it's not just a landscape, it's a feeling. This piece really speaks to the power of printmaking to convey depth and emotion with such limited means. It makes you think about light and dark, hope and despair – feelings we all know, artists or not.