Mission Dolores - San Francisco c. 1939

Marguerite Redman Dorgeloh made this print of Mission Dolores in San Francisco, and just looking at it, I imagine her working in a studio filled with tools and inks. The gray tones are so finely wrought, almost like a memory emerging from fog. I can feel Dorgeloh's concentration as she built up the image, one delicate line at a time. There’s something about the precision here that reminds me of architectural drawings, yet the soft rendering keeps it dreamy. Her hand must have been so steady. I wonder if she stood in front of the Mission and sketched, or if she worked from photographs, and then how she translated this into printmaking. It almost looks like she’s trying to preserve something. Artists are always having a dialogue with each other over time, borrowing ideas and techniques, pushing boundaries. Each mark is a tiny act of exploration and, in the end, a lasting statement.