The Shell Factory 1916

Joseph Pennell made this drawing of the Shell Factory with pencil. It is hard to see but the paper and the marks are not completely different from one another; the paper is almost a dirty white and the drawing a smudgy black. I can imagine him in the factory with his pad and pencil, feeling the immense size and the danger of the space, the almost unbearable din of the machines and the low hum of human voices trying to communicate. The soft marks on the page really soften the blow of the subject matter. The marks remind me of the work of Philip Guston. The scribbled lines almost create a web on the page, capturing this place in a way that a photograph could never do. It makes me feel the place, rather than just see it. What do you feel?