The Urns, Casting Big Shells 1916

Joseph Pennell made this drawing, The Urns, Casting Big Shells, using what looks like graphite or charcoal. It's an image that captures both industry and the people involved in it. Pennell’s mark-making is all about capturing the bigness of the space and the weight of the objects. You can see how he uses short, broken lines to describe the factory's architecture, almost like he's building the scene piece by piece. The tonal range is so well-handled, with deep shadows contrasting against the lighter areas, giving it a real sense of depth. The way he depicts the smoke or steam, with just a few wispy lines, adds a ghostly quality to the scene. And then there's that signature of his, almost like a flourish, asserting his presence in this industrial landscape. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi's etchings, with their dramatic use of light and shadow, capturing the grandeur and, in its own way, the melancholy of human construction. It’s like Pennell is saying, look at what we build, what we make, and what it costs us.