Saturday in Navasota c. 1930

Kathleen Blackshear made this lithograph, "Saturday in Navasota", using simple mark making to describe a scene. The whole piece is an accumulation of marks. There's a tonal quality to the whole thing, a limited palette, that really lends itself to the medium. I’m drawn to the way Blackshear uses the lithographic crayon to build up the figures and forms. Look at how the density of marks creates the textures, like the cross hatching on the wall and the patterns of the shirt of the man leaning against the box. The marks are more sparse on the trousers, giving a lightness to the material, with a concentrated density around the butt. It almost feels like she is caressing the figure. It’s a very physical way of seeing. This work reminds me of Honoré Daumier's lithographs, in its social awareness. Blackshear shows us the everyday, capturing a fleeting moment in time. These kind of images don’t offer any easy answers.