Falls Station, Niagara 1910

Joseph Pennell made this work, Falls Station, Niagara, sometime around 1911, using graphite on paper. It is mostly an exercise in grey scales. The image is built up of hatching and cross-hatching, which gives the work its feeling of depth. I'm thinking about Pennell's drawing process. I imagine him standing en plein air, rapidly sketching what he saw. There is a lot going on! He has really focused on light and movement, that amazing waterfall. I think it is quite the feat to capture the sublime power of nature, and the industrial revolution all in one image. There is something very satisfying about that diagonal sweep of the railway tracks. It’s almost like a road into the future. It reminds me of Whistler's etchings of the Thames, there is a similar preoccupation with urban and industrial landscapes. Artists are always looking, borrowing, stealing, but making something new in the process. And, ultimately, we're all just trying to make sense of the world.