Charles Basin Motif #1 1936

Donald Greason made this drawing, Charles Basin Motif #1, on paper, and the way he’s laid down these marks is so immediate, it's like he’s thinking right onto the page. You know? There’s a directness here. The lines are wiry and quick, capturing the industrial scene with an economy that speaks to process. The color is mostly the warm tone of the paper, punctuated by the dark ink. Look how he uses the hatching and cross-hatching to build up the forms, like in the buildings and smokestacks across the water. It’s almost a shorthand, but it gives you everything you need. And then there's this lone figure in the boat, so small against the scale of the industrial landscape, a tiny reminder of human presence amidst all this… stuff. You can see how Greason takes cues from artists like the American Precisionists, but he’s also channeling something very personal, a way of seeing the world that’s both analytical and deeply felt. It's like a visual diary, or a love letter to the everyday.