Arbeiter in Lodz schieben eine Karre 1915

Reinhard Pfaehler von Othegraven drew "Workers in Lodz Pushing a Cart," sometime around 1905, using charcoal and chalk. You can feel the weight of the cart through the repeated actions of the workers. Charcoal, chalk—these media are so immediate, right? It’s like Othegraven is almost touching the workers, feeling their strain. I imagine him thinking, “How can I get this down, this feeling?” The strokes! Look how they build, layer upon layer. A kind of choreography of marks. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, or even Käthe Kollwitz, this empathy for human labor. But Othegraven's got this energy, this rhythmic repetition that's almost mechanical. As artists, we’re always pushing and pulling, always borrowing, and answering one another across time. That’s what marks on a surface do: they start a conversation.