New Silo 1936

Alice Standish Buell made this etching, "New Silo," and what strikes me is the careful attention she gave to the marks suggesting wood, stone, and human effort. Look how she uses line and shadow to build the silo, piece by piece. The real magic here lies in the texture. The roughhewn planks of the scaffolding are built with a dense crosshatching, giving a tangible weight. See how the lines vary in thickness and direction? It's almost like you can feel the splintery surface beneath your fingers. And those tiny figures! They are so small, yet they carry the weight of the entire composition on their shoulders. Buell reminds me of the precision of someone like M.C. Escher. But where Escher creates impossible spaces, Buell captures the humble beauty of labor and construction. Art is about building, layer upon layer, just like this silo.