Cast Iron Figure 1935 - 1942

Here is Eugene Barrell’s Cast Iron Figure, made with graphite or charcoal on paper. I can imagine Eugene, pencil in hand, patiently building up the chiaroscuro and volume of this figure. He’s attending to the fall of light, the weight of the drapery, the character in the man’s face. Is it Benjamin Franklin? Maybe it’s important, maybe not. There's a real craftsperson’s attention here – the way the medium mimics the material of the sculpture itself. Barrell's mark-making gives a kind of solid presence to the figure, a sense of its being grounded. And the soft rendering creates a ghostly effect, as if this cast iron man is emerging from the paper itself. There's an echo of Giorgio Morandi’s still lifes in the subtle gradations and quiet tonality. We can see artists engaging with one another across time, each one picking up the pencil to begin the conversation again.