All Day Park 1950

Editor: We're looking at Margaret Newland Wenstrup's 1950 print, "All Day Park," made with ink and linocut. It's a city scene with cars, and it almost feels like a folk art rendition of urban life. What strikes me is the contrast between the dense cars and the stark buildings behind them. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The beauty of this work lies within its formal arrangements. Notice how Wenstrup plays with positive and negative space. The dark, heavily inked cars press forward, establishing a foreground. Observe, also, how this heavy use of ink shapes outlines and masses, particularly the mass of those large, dark sedans. Editor: Yes, the cars really stand out. The buildings behind seem more like suggestions of buildings, not fully formed. Curator: Precisely. And consider how the artist's stark, abstracted forms simplify the complex world into easily understood geometries and silhouettes. The power lines are represented with striking vertical simplicity. It draws your eye upward. Editor: It makes the entire scene feel compressed and flat, yet the linework gives it so much texture. I guess it's both flat and textured at the same time. Curator: That interplay is precisely the strength of this piece. The flattening of space enhances the almost decorative quality, a rhythmic distribution of dark and light shapes across the surface. Do you see the pattern forming between shadow and solid object? Editor: I see it! So, the artist isn’t trying to show a realistic space, but more the *idea* of a park? Curator: Exactly. This print demonstrates a manipulation of forms and shapes used to define space. Editor: That makes a lot of sense. I see now that focusing on forms gives a fuller reading of what is an amazing print.