Vagrant 1938

Benton Spruance made this lithograph, ‘Vagrant,’ using crayon. Can you imagine him bending over the stone, drawing with this greasy crayon, building up the darks slowly? The crayon must have moved over the stone so softly, creating a really subtle range of tones. He’s captured the man's pose with an incredible, gentle gravity, so that he seems to be contemplating something important. The man has this kind of vulnerability and he is clearly down on his luck. Spruance’s work often focused on social issues and the lives of ordinary people. He created a lot of lithographs, developing this incredible language of shading and tone that is so evocative. It makes you want to feel sympathy and to understand a little more. It's like all artists, he's having a conversation with past artists and imagining others for the future. We’re all just working it out together, really.