Untitled (Office Workers) c. 1950

This untitled print of office workers was made by Carl M. Schultheiss sometime in the mid-twentieth century, using an etching technique. You can see how Schultheiss, like any artist, made choices about how to leave his mark. Look at the foreground here, at the woman on the left. Her face is delicately rendered with a network of fine, dark lines. Notice how these marks thicken and crowd into shadow on the side of her nose and under her chin. But it’s also important to note what *isn’t* there. Schultheiss uses mark making sparingly – letting areas of the paper stay white. This gives the image an airy, open feeling, despite the dense subject matter of a busy office. The print has a kinship with the work of artists like Edward Hopper, who were interested in portraying the everyday realities of modern life. Ultimately, the piece leaves us to consider our own place in the daily grind.