The Brownstones Go! 1939

William Parker Abbe made this print, The Brownstones Go!, and it's a real study in contrasts. The artist’s mark-making is incredibly deliberate, with each line carefully placed to build up a sense of depth and texture. What strikes me is how the texture is built; it almost feels like he’s sculpting the image out of the paper. Look at the way the lines converge to create shadows and the little details on the buildings, like the crumbling facades. It reminds me that artmaking is a conversation between the artist and the materials, a dance of intention and accident. There’s an architectural tension here, like Piranesi, but with an American spin. You see it echoed, maybe, in the work of someone like Charles Burchfield, who found something equally strange and compelling in American cities. Art is all about this ongoing conversation, where artists respond to and build upon the ideas of those who came before, each adding their own unique voice to the mix.