The Tornado 1932

This is John Steuart Curry’s 1932 lithograph, "The Tornado". It's a small print, rendered in black and white. You can really see the mark-making. It’s all about hatching and cross-hatching to build up the form; there’s very little blending. The texture comes from the density of lines, a tight scribble to describe the churning sky and the looming tornado, with a looser touch for the buildings and figures. The shading is used to create depth, but also to emphasize the figures’ anxiety. Look at the mother's face, her eyes wide with fear, and the rigid lines around her mouth. The figures almost seem frozen. The tornado itself is treated like a character. You see its power in the way the lines are clustered and concentrated. This print makes me think of Kathe Kollwitz, especially the way both artists use the language of printmaking to express human emotion. Both artists embrace the messiness and immediacy of their chosen medium. It’s not about perfection, it’s about feeling.