Empire State Building 1930

Ernest Fiene made this etching of the Empire State Building sometime in the 20th century. You can see it's all about a process of light and dark, a real dance between black and white, isn't it? I love how Fiene uses all these linear marks to create depth. Look at the beams in the foreground, the way they frame the skyscraper. The texture in those areas is built up, a real contrast to the smooth paper of the building itself. It's not just about showing us a building, it's about revealing how we see, how light and shadow construct form. There is a really striking contrast with the hazy texture of the background, a sense of soft and hard, near and far. I can't help but think of the Precisionist painters, like Charles Sheeler, who were also trying to capture the crisp, clean lines of the modern world. But Fiene brings something else, a kind of gritty, urban poetry. It's like he's saying, "Yes, this is progress, but it's also a little rough around the edges." And isn't that the truth?