The Colliery Ruhrort Near Oberhausen 1910

Joseph Pennell made this etching, The Colliery Ruhrort Near Oberhausen, at an unknown date. What strikes me is the immediacy of the marks, the almost scribbled lines that describe this industrial landscape. You can almost feel Pennell wrestling with the plate, trying to capture the grit and the grime of the place. The texture is really what grabs me. Look at the way he’s used the etching needle to create these dense, layered lines. It's not just about depicting the scene; it's about conveying a feeling, a sense of the weight and density of the industrial structures. Notice the sky, how it seems to press down on the scene, rendered with these furious, chaotic strokes. Then there's the smokestack on the right. It’s not just a straight line; it's got this wobbly, almost organic quality, like it's breathing. It reminds me of Piranesi's etchings of Rome, but with a more modern, industrial sensibility. Both artists share this fascination with the epic scale of human construction. Ultimately, it’s about the push and pull between representation and abstraction, and the way that art is not about fixed meanings but a process of seeing and thinking.