Cast Iron Figure 1935 - 1942

Eugene Barrell made this Cast Iron Figure, a drawing really, at an undetermined date. It’s all about process: you can tell that Barrell wants to show you how he sees the world, and how he makes it. Look at the way he builds up his tonal range with tight, controlled lines of graphite. He’s not trying to hide the method of his making. This is, I think, an illustration of sculpture, but more than that, it feels like a diagram. See how the light falls on the figure, he’s using simple techniques of hatching and cross-hatching to build up areas of deep shadow. The subject is interesting of course, but it’s Barrell’s touch, his sensibility, that stays with you. He reminds me of Alfred Jensen, in the way he reduces reality to a set of abstract principles. Like Jensen, Barrell invites us to appreciate art as an ongoing exchange of ideas, where the meaning of a piece is never fixed.