Night Before, November 3 1936

Kathryn Uhl created "Night Before, November 3" using graphite on paper. I really like the moodiness of this drawing! Uhl created a compelling drama using soft, smoky shading. It’s a crowd scene, all focused on something happening within the open doorway of a shop. What’s going on in there? Are they lining up? Are they waiting for news? The drawing is charged with an atmosphere of anticipation! I imagine Uhl, working on this, almost caressing the page, pulling the image out from within. The details emerge from the darkness; the hat brims, the lapels, the bare winter branches. The light from the doorway spills out into the night, and Uhl uses it as a compositional device, drawing our eye and uniting the mass of people. This work reminds me a little of the drawings of George Bellows, in its urban subject matter and tonal range. Like Bellows, Uhl captures a specific time and place, but she also transcends it, speaking to the human experience of waiting and wondering.