Aegina, The Black Forest 1913

Joseph Pennell created this lithograph titled *Aegina, The Black Forest*, likely in the early 20th century. The medium here is lithography, which means that it began with a stone matrix, carefully worked to hold an image made with grease crayon. Look closely, and you'll see that the artist has achieved an extraordinary range of tones, from the solid blacks in the foreground to the misty greys of the sky. This was achieved through subtle gradations of pressure and mark-making on the stone. Pennell was known for his skill in this printmaking technique, which walks a fine line between the hand-drawn and the mechanically reproduced. The result is an image that feels both immediate and somehow timeless. In its way, Pennell's print is a perfect marriage of material, process, and subject. The very means of its making heightens our sense of this ruin as a testament to human labor and ingenuity.