Hog Island. Workmen, Scaffoldings and Derricks 1918

Thornton Oakley made this drawing of Hog Island, with workmen, scaffoldings, and derricks, probably with graphite on paper. Look at the marks he made, how they gather together to suggest the gloom of the industrial landscape and the weight of labour. The scaffolding towers above everything, a cage of human endeavour, yet somehow dwarfed by the haze and scale of the project. Notice how the marks are built up slowly, like the construction itself. There is a contrast between the precision of the scaffolding, rendered in straight lines and careful detail, and the looser, more atmospheric rendering of the smoke and steam. Oakley’s drawing is reminiscent of Joseph Pennell's lithographs of construction sites. Like Pennell, he seems fascinated by the sheer scale and ambition of industrial projects, but perhaps also aware of their human cost. This is a world of half-light, where the human figure is dwarfed by the immensity of the machine, and where the air itself seems heavy with the dust and smoke of progress. It’s a reminder that art is not just about pretty pictures, but about capturing the world in all its messy, complicated glory.