Boston Street 1938

Lawrence Kupferman made this drawing of Boston Street, and wow, it's all in monochrome, creating such a dense landscape of buildings. I wonder, what was he thinking when he meticulously built up those layers? It must have taken so long to create this density of marks. Look how he's used the hatching and the cross-hatching to build volume and shadow – it's almost like the buildings are breathing. I imagine him standing on that same corner, squinting and turning the scene into line. What was he doing with those lines? Each stroke feels so deliberate. It reminds me of the urban sketches of Lyonel Feininger. He captured a similar feeling, that mood, of a city being solid and looming, and also strangely fragile. Artists are in constant dialogue, aren’t they? We look, we respond, and we add our voice to the chorus. There's a real conversation happening through time, across marks, and lines, and images like this one.