Untitled [Walking Rains] c. 1937

Edward Laning made this untitled image, “Walking Rains,” using lithographic ink on paper. Look at those little marks, so repetitive, they seem almost meditative in their application. It's like Laning found a rhythm and just kept going, turning simple lines into a complex image of nature's moodiness. The texture is key here. The litho ink allows for a certain kind of velvety darkness, doesn’t it? See how he uses it to create depth, pushing the mountains into the distance while the foreground shrubs pop with detail. The way the rain is rendered, it’s like a curtain of light and shadow, feels so immediate, like you could step right into the scene. And that one ominous cloud, it’s almost cartoonish, yet so effective! It feels to me like Laning was looking back to artists like the woodcut expressionist, Lyonel Feininger, in his attention to composition and atmospheric perspective, yet bringing a very American sensibility to the subject matter. It’s this conversation across time, you know, the push and pull of influence, that makes art so endlessly fascinating.