The Commuters 1919

"The Commuters" is an etching made by Joseph Pennell, its date unknown, and the whole thing is a lesson in light and shadow. Pennell really gets the industrial revolution. Check out how he uses these tiny little scratches and lines. It's like he’s not just depicting a train station, but also hinting at the constant motion, the busy-ness, the organized chaos of modern life. I love the textures he gets, all achieved with a single color. Look at the smokey clouds around the arch of the train shed. It looks like the marks were hatched very quickly, to capture that fleeting moment of smog hanging in the air. It reminds me a little of Piranesi, with his architectural fantasies and the way he could make an etching feel like a whole world. Both artists show how art is this amazing conversation across time. It’s not about nailing down one right answer, but about opening up space for new ideas, new feelings, new ways of seeing.