Union Square, Rainy Day 1904

Editor: So, this is Joseph Pennell's "Union Square, Rainy Day" from 1904, made as a print. It’s mostly in shades of grey. It kind of makes me feel a little lonely, actually; like I'm standing in the rain with everyone else rushing by. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, the loneliness, yes! It's palpable, isn't it? For me, Pennell has captured a very particular mood. There's the grandeur of the buildings, all striving for the sky, and then there are the tiny figures huddled under umbrellas. It's like the city is indifferent to their individual struggles, their rainy-day blues. Notice how the lines aren't perfectly clean – they're smudged, hurried, reflecting that sense of perpetual motion, and the slightly melancholic haze. Doesn't it remind you a little of those old sepia photographs where the past feels so close, yet so unreachable? It gives a feeling that progress may come with this touch of impermanence, if you will, and aren’t all prints some form of memory? What are your impressions about that specific historical element, perhaps compared to modern architectural renderings? Editor: I see what you mean! Compared to today, it’s more...vulnerable. Like the city is less sure of itself. Almost tentative? Is that right? Curator: Exactly! You see how he embraced that uncertainty, even found beauty in it. You could almost say he wasn't just depicting Union Square but expressing the ephemeral nature of city life, those in-between moments when everything is slightly blurred and uncertain. Editor: I hadn't really considered that it was trying to say something beyond just showing a rainy day. Thanks, I will remember it! Curator: Indeed! We, too, must appreciate the silent narrative whispered in the lines.