Saint Paul's, Fleet Street, London 1905

Joseph Pennell made this print of Saint Paul's, Fleet Street, in London with etching. It’s all about line, that’s what etching is, and the magic of this work comes from the artist's ability to turn line into light. Look at how Pennell uses the lines to build up the sense of the cathedral looming, almost shimmering, there’s a real push-pull between the building and the sky through the density of marks. The eye is drawn up into the dome, rendered with these delicate, almost vibrating strokes. It’s amazing how those tiny marks, like whispers, give shape to this massive structure. Etching is all about process. It's indirect, a delayed image. Pennell doesn’t shy away from the potential messiness of the medium, there's a real energy in those lines, a sense of something emerging. I think it's a conversation with Whistler, but where Whistler is smooth, Pennell is scratchy. Art is one big conversation.