Exposition de Peintures - Dessins et Gravures 1903

This drawing is by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, and from the looks of it, it's made with charcoal or a similar material. You know, there's something so immediate about drawings. You can see the hand of the artist right there on the page. Look at the way Steinlen uses these dense, dark marks to build up the figure of the worker, the softness of the shading suggesting both muscle and the grit of the factory. Then the wisps of light, radiating out from the top corner, cut through that smoggy, industrial atmosphere. I'm really drawn to the way the artist renders that weathered face. It's so full of character, and you get the sense of the man's gaze, focused on something in the distance, something perhaps beyond the factory. It reminds me a little bit of Käthe Kollwitz's drawings of working-class figures, that same sense of dignity and quiet strength in the face of adversity. Ultimately it's about how art holds space for different worlds, different ways of seeing.