Lock House 1942

Stow Wengenroth made this lithograph, ‘Lock House,’ sometime in the mid-twentieth century. Looking at it, you can see how the medium lends itself to a specific kind of detail, where every little mark counts. It’s not so much about hiding the process as about seeing the accumulation of tiny gestures build up a whole world. The magic of a lithograph, for me, is in how the artist coaxes an image out of stone. Notice the subtle gradations of tone, like on that grassy bank in the foreground. It’s built up from what looks like millions of tiny strokes, all working together to describe the texture and the light. Look at the way he renders the stone wall of the house, each stone carefully delineated, but also part of a larger pattern. Wengenroth wasn't shy when it came to details; he had a real knack for capturing the essence of a place. It reminds me a little bit of Whistler's etchings, or maybe some of the more meticulous realists of the early 20th century. But Wengenroth has his own voice, a quiet, contemplative way of looking at the world. It’s like he’s saying, "Here is a place, caught in a moment, but also timeless."