Surf Fisherman 1946

This is Paul Whitman’s Surf Fisherman, a monochrome print with a focus on texture. Looking at the image, I’m struck by the way Whitman approaches the act of image-making as a process of layering and mark-making, reminiscent of printmaking or drawing. The surface of the print is so descriptive, you can almost smell the ocean air, it is the way that it balances the detail of the two figures in the foreground with the roiling sea, which seems to threaten to spill out of the frame. The fisherman casting his line, feet firmly planted, is in stark contrast to the other figure who seems to scramble up the rocks, out of the way of the waves. Whitman is able to do so much with just monochrome tone. It makes you focus on the story. Whitman's work reminds me a little of Winslow Homer’s seascapes, although Homer was working in watercolor and oil, he had a similar approach to nature. Ultimately, this image is about uncertainty and invites us to consider the precariousness of human existence in the face of nature's power.