Tree 1940

Lucy L'Engle made this lithograph, 'Tree', in 1940; the marks are so gentle, the values so carefully distributed that I imagine her slowly building up the image, caressing the surface with the side of the crayon. Looking at the houses behind the tree, they seem wedged into the landscape; the tree is right there, in front of us. You can feel the grain of the paper through the image, grounding it. The limbs and branches make fluid, curling gestures; the eye traces a continuous, unbroken line as it moves from the bottom of the trunk and up through the canopy of leaves. This line is so simple, so elegant! I think of Marsden Hartley and his paintings of trees. Like Hartley, L'Engle has created a powerful image of nature’s resilience, but has done so by simplifying and abstracting the forms; a conversation about seeing that continues to this day.